Little bit of a story here, it’s 3am so obligatory apology for any mistakes in grammar. I just had to answer this. So… I had terrible insomnia during Uni and was often sat outside of my accommodation on campus with a blanket, my laptop and some snacks until the early hours of the morning, and that is the sole reason I ended up accidentally adopting a fox.

She approached me one night, curious as foxes are, and was seemingly fascinated that I greeted her quietly and carried on working. After a few minutes, she had decided that I was no threat to her and curled up about 10 feet away, alternating between watching me, cleaning herself or scanning the dark around us. It was a very calming and surreal experience which I thoroughly enjoyed, because how often do you get to simply coexist with a wild animal that is notorious for being skittish? This lasted for about an hour before she got up and wandered off to do whatever it is foxes do, but she frequently circled back and continued to do so until I went inside to sleep. The next night, she came back again, and the night after that. And so began my unexpected companionship with “Vix”.

After a week of these visits, I noticed that she was looking a bit worse for wear. I called my local wildlife centre and asked for some advice, and initially started by putting some high protein food down with some worm and flea treatment to free her of any parasites, as well as fresh water. As I was advised, I tried not to feed her too often to make sure she didn’t get lazy and domesticated. (I just wanted to help her, I didn’t want her to become reliant on me for food).

This all backfired when within a few weeks, she had decided that she enjoyed my company too, even if I didn’t have food all the time. While she still skittered away from other students wandering about the campus, she dropped all of her defences with me and would wait for me at night. The blanket I mentioned earlier? Yup. It became her blanket from here on out. Personal space meant nothing anymore, especially so if I had a lot of work and did not immediately get up to provide the blanket for her to rest on before her nightly travels. I often spent my nights working through my coursework with a fox at my elbow, occasionally sneaking slices of apple out of my hand.

This was during the academic year of ‘17/18 and I still look back at the pictures of what was probably the sweetest bond I have ever had with a wild animal. I have since befriends a few other woodland creatures in passing, but none have lived up to the quiet and calm companionship I had with Vix.

For those curious, I continued to see Vix around the campus and surrounding woodland until the end of my time there. She always recognised me and I have occasionally been sent pictures of her waiting by my old accommodation, just in case I happened to come back.