Foxes and Ferrets Although I have often seen the result
of a fox's work, I never cease to be amazed at its capacity for wanton killing. On a farm not so far away they shot a dog-fox the week before last, and the fox was photographed for the local paper. The farmer and his assistant, hold- ing the fox by the tail; posed before a mound of poultry that the fox had destroyed in a single raid. There were at least two big- turkeys in the heap and many chickens, but, had the raider managed to escape undetected, it is unlikely that he would have taken more than one bird if he took any at all. Hunger stimulates the killer, but, having killed for food, he goes on, fascinated by the movement of the frightened birds. Last year I heard of a ferret that did as much damage as a fox when it wormed its way into a chicken-coop. Not a chicken was left alive, and the gorged ferret was easily killed by a tap from a brush. Like all predators, a ferret becomes sluggish 'after it has killed and fed, and for this reason some people who ferret rabbits starve their charges for a day or so before they take them out. A fox in its wild state gets fewer opportunities to gorge and is less likely to be caught with his senses dulled, but I remember seeing one chewing a chicken's wing outside his lair. It was a cold day, and he was far from alert, lying there like a dog, until he got wind of me.
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