In the Aftermath of the Storm....

[Greg G.]

Only time I saw one was when I was in Florida 15 years ago near the Breakers Hotel, I think it was a red fox?

[DavePEI]

Foxes aren't native to P.E.I. However, about a hundred years ago, a Summerside farmer decided to raise foxes for fur. It became quite an industry for many years. Finally, when the bottom went out of the fur market, the foxes went free. We have both red and a smaller population of Silver foxes. there are still a few who trap or hunt foxes, but thankfully, the majority get the opportunity to live out their lives with their own coat.

At one point, our property was a fox farm - long before we bought it in the 50s. For many years we dug up fox wire around the property when it got caught by our lawn mowers. Thankfully, everything by now had rusted away in the ground in the last 60 years.

The same farmer who began the fox farming and imported the first foxes to the Island also imported skunks, thinking that their fur would become popular.Well, that was a flop - who wanted stinky furs? So, they were released, and the skunks spread across P.E.I.

P.E.I. used to have a large native bear population, but through the years they were killed off - the last sighting of a bear was now over 100 years ago. Someone got the bright idea quite some years ago to bring a road-killed bear from New Brunswick and planted him by the side of a highway. You should have heard the rumours until tests showed that he had died elsewhere and had been brought to the Island for a joke!

Incidentally, squirrels are one of our native animals. Our squirrels aren't the big squirrels common elsewhere. Full grown, they are the size of chipmunks. My brother from Ontario was quite amazed when he saw a P.E.I. squirrel when he was down some years ago, and was told that was aa big as they get. Of course, he was used to the Ontario squirrels!.

We also have a problem with racoons. Several years ago, a Momma racoon dug its way through the roof on the museum and had a family there. Before that was over, it had cost me thousands on repair, and finally replacement of the roof, and replacement of the upstairs ceiling.

Coyotes were never a problem, until about 20 years ago. At that time the odd coyote began to be found. They figure they crossed over to the Island on the winter ice. They liked it so much, they stayed, apparently.

Small populations of Ermine (winter weasels), otters, also exist in the wild. No deer or Buffalo.  We did have some farmed not too far from here that were imported for the purpose, but they stayed on the farm :-)  Likewise Caribou (Reindeer) and Emus have been farmed on an experimental basis and stayed on the farm without escaping into the wild.

In all cases, I think their coats look much better on them than on any human!

My last name is Hunter, but I do my hunting with a camera!  Frankly, I am glad I live in the country and not in the city - I get to see these marvelous creatures every day!

Dave

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I don't really see foxes that often. In fact, I don't recall a specific time when I saw one in the wild in person!

I usually see the typical wild animals around here; deer, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, turkeys, etc. A few years ago, we only had grey squirrels around here, never any black squirrels. About 6 or 7 years ago, the black ones started appearing. Now, the black squirrels are about as popular as the grey ones. I wonder what happened...

We used to have a coyote problem, a pack lived on our property. We would occasionally see them appearing in our back yard, and they were always on the trail of some animal nearby. We had enough of it, so every time we saw one in our yard, we would try to take a shot at it. We had never hit one yet, until one came into our yard a few years ago. My dad hit it in the leg, it ran in circles,  and bolted off into the woods.We don't know if it died or the wound healed, but one thing is for sure, the coyotes haven't come back since.