Fox and Deer in the middle of Toronto

by Tina E. Whitton
(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Tina, from Toronto, sent us this report of her wildlife sightings - Yup, believe it or not, my husband and I were jogging in a pretty major park system, when a buck jumped out of the brush and stood on the sidewalk right in front of us!!

We stood still, and he abruptly took one jump into the stream, and then one bound out of it onto the other side.

He had been chased out of the brush by someones off-leash dog, and that scared him right out into the open. Totally unbelievable as people who have lived on this street see deer quite regularly, but never saw a buck. Huge antler rack I might add.

Last night, I woke up to the loudest screeches or whatever at 3 am. A few neighbours we awakened by it as well and fearing the worst, that an animal had been hit by a car or something even worse. I at first thought it might be Raccoons fighting, as there are lots of them around here, and they can make quite a racket if they're not too happy.

But when I came outside, flashlight in hand, saw that it was a Fox, and when it saw me, it crossed to the other side of the road. I watched it for a few minutes with the flashlight to make sure it wasn't limping or anything, and seemed fine. A neighbour down the block, quite a ways actually, came out and asked me if it was the Fox making the noise and seeing that it was, said that at his end of the street there was another one, doing the same. So I am trying to find out whether it was a mother and baby separated or some kind of call to each other.

We do have Coyotes in the ravine, but I never heard them, or ever heard a Fox making noises like this...