By Bandit Powell
Elm Staff Writer
When walking through a college campus, most people do not expect to have memorable interactions with wildlife. Nonetheless, Washington College has become the home of a fox that some students have named Lunch.
Freshman James Boughton said he saw the fox’s name first on the social media platform Fizz.
“After [learning the fox’s name], my friend group … started mentioning it,” Boughton said.
Shane Brill ’03, who has advised students involved with the campus garden for over 20 years, does not think students should be concerned about the fox on campus.
“[The fox is] an indication of a healthy ecosystem,” Brill said.
Last weekend, junior and head of the Chicken Council Jessica Barr was putting the campus garden chickens in their coop and said she was “was a little concerned to see a predator species so close to the chicken enclosure.”
Brill said foxes are mesopredators, or “mid-level predator[s] that will both scavenge and hunt smaller prey,” that are “typically kept in check by apex predators,” or predators at the top of the food chain.
The state’s Department of Natural Resources along with local trappers and pest control companies were consulted about the fox, according to an email from Director of Facilities for Buildings and Grounds Stan Yeakle late last month.
“[The wildlife authorities] have all stated that as long as the fox is healthy and not chasing anyone, then it will eventually move on,” Yeakle said in the email.
Barr, Brill, and Boughton said that they have not observed or heard of any strange behaviors of the fox.
Boughton and Barr believe that the fox’s presence is raising student morale, but both warn students not to feed the fox to avoid harming it or causing aggressive behaviors.
“When you feed wildlife, you become responsible for it if it stops being dependent on itself and its own hunting skills,” Brill said.
Foxes travel in family units and “under good habitat conditions most fox territories will be about 2 or 3 square miles, although, if hunting conditions are good, most fox will stay within a square mile daily, especially in mild weather,” according to the National Trappers Association.
Some students have begun to wonder whether Lunch is the only fox, or if there are multiple foxes being called by the same name.
“Someone posted a video [on Fizz] like, ‘Lunch has a broken ankle,’ but then three days later, there was another video and [the fox] was fine. Maybe there are multiple foxes, and we just globally call them all Lunch,” Boughton said.
September is around the time that juvenile foxes leave the den and roam the family unit territory, according to the National Trappers Association, so this theory could have some merit to it.
Brill said there is a history of unusual wildlife on campus. From cat colonies to opossums to snakes, the campus has had its fair share of history with wildlife hanging around.
“When I was a student here, I’d go out walking at nighttime and there’d be like cats all over the place,” Brill said. “I once saw an opossum walk into the Miller Library. It literally walked down the Cater Walk and onto the Miller Library Terrace, up into the building,” Brill said.
Both Brill and Boughton think that the campus could still be safer for wildlife. By reducing pesticide use, WC could encourage an even more biodiverse campus.
“I would love to see more wildlife on campus,” Boughton said.
Due to the absence of public postings or other readily-accessible information about pesticides, Boughton agreed that most students do not know what chemicals are used on campus grounds.
“If it is a problem for [wildlife], then that should definitely change,” Boughton said.
Boughton said that the increase in biodiverse life would benefit students at WC as well as make the campus a captivating place to be. Boughton said as long as there is no danger, he sees no issue with letting Lunch hang around.
“I think observing, acknowledging, and honoring the presence of these other life forces and happenings in our world is a beautiful thing,” Brill said.
No matter if there is one fox or if there are multiple, campus members agree that no one should feed or inadvertently hurt any wildlife that has chosen to make its home on campus.
Photo caption: The red fox that students have named Lunch has been spotted in prominent campus locations at various times of day throughout the start of the semester.
Photo by Bandit Powell