Mary sent me these photos, taken with her cell phone last week, of a gray fox at her school.

Keep in mind that her school is in the middle of Kyle, Texas. Kyle is not a big city, but it is nonetheless fairly developed. It consists of residential neighborhoods around a small downtown area. The fox found his way onto the school grounds and decided to sun himself and take a nap on the school’s air conditioning evaporator units.

Of course, this caused quite a stir at the school and many of the teachers went outside to get a better look and capture the moment. They were able to get quite close. Mary and her friends think that maybe the fox was sick, but I think he’s just enjoying the day.

The facility folks came to catch him and release him elsewhere and that ended the excitement.

Foxes are canids and are related to dogs, wolves, jackals and coyotes. Gray foxes range through the southern half of North American and as far south as Venezuela and Colombia. They were once the dominant fox in the Eastern United States but human development allowed the red fox to become predominant.

The gray foxes  must be very resilient and adaptable animals for this one to make his living in Kyle. They are omnivorous and will hunt rabbits and birds. They also eat whatever fruits they can find. They gray fox, in general, eats more vegetable matter than the red fox. I like the fact that even in the middle of our civilization, animals can make a home. Maybe all is not lost.

We sometimes see them on our property, but they are quite elusive. Usually we just catch a glimpse of them running away. I’ve seen dens on the property which might be theirs, but they could also be used by other animals.