I posted a blog on June 22nd 2025 about the need for humans to keep control of words. A few months later I suffered the death of a member of my family. The experience and the moment of passing was unwordable and taught me about the depth of silence. This may seem obvious stuff, the topic of body language experts. What I mean instead is that in using words, we should keep in mind their limits and the possibilities of communication beyond words.
Last Friday, coming home from work (yes, its still a thing), I was approached by a fox. Usually my encounters with foxes involve my dancing around shouting at them and them staring insolently at me, just out of reach. Instead, this fox came up to me meekly and stared into my eyes. Its approach was not aggressive or demanding. It did not want food or a fight. It was asking for my help. It was unable to walk on one leg which was just dangling.
Gradually people gathered. Water was brought for it, and food. It was interesting to see who had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on eg parcel deliverers (Auden) and who instead stopped to help: A few couples, women with small children, people on the street. A steam of wanting to help it built up. Eventually not one but two animal rescuers arrived and after 45 minutes managed to get it into a cage to hospital.
It had a paw eaten by maggots from being trapped in a cable tie and two paws rotting. It was on its way to death by sepsis. Thanks for the two men who rescued it. After a week it should be well, though minus two toes. Thanks to Wildlife Aid in Leatherhead https://wildlifeaid.org.uk/
Photo of a different fox because we were not snapping photos.
What has stayed with me is that it knew it had to trust me for its survival.
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