THUNDER BAY — A Dawson Street family is keeping a closer eye on their backyard after some unexpected visitors showed up Tuesday afternoon.
Two foxes made their way to the roof of the garage, tamped down the snow, and proceeded to take a nap.
Sirpa Hanlan said her daughter called out from her bedroom, " 'Mom, can you come here? There's something on the roof.' And I'm going 'Is that what I'm really seeing? '"
At first, they thought the animal was alone.
"He was just curled up, snug as can be, enjoying the sun. I got my husband to come, and we just tapped really lightly on the window to see if he'd lift his head, and sure enough he did. He was such a cute little thing."
Hanlan said they remained watching for awhile before the fox got up, stretched and moved to another part of the roof.
"We saw him sniff something, then all of a sudden another head popped up. He sniffed the other fox, then decided to go back to his little spot where he twirled around and went back to sleep."
This is the first time the family has seen foxes in the neighbourhood.
They think the animals got onto the roof by jumping from snow that's been piled up between the garage and a fence.
When their cat realized there was an intruder on the property, he too fixed his gaze on the garage roof from a vantage point indoors.
Hanlan said the family keeps him tied up whenever he's outside, but at this point she's not too worried about his safety.
"He's a pretty big cat. I'm going to have to look into a little bit of fox research to see what their tendencies are. I don't think they they go after cats."
According to various authoritative sources, foxes generally are disinterested in cats.
