Fox proves catlike in bid to get his supper

THE owl and the pussycat might have sailed away together in a nursery rhyme, but a family in Galway are enjoying the rare sight of a fox and a cat tucking into a nightly curry together.

Anne and Gerard Lynch have been providing leftover curry, lasagne and even turkey and ham in an old box of Heroes chocolates for a stray cat, but when the weather turned colder, a wild fox decided to try and keep the wolf from the door.

While the fox was willing to share the meal, a few sharp jabs on the nose from the cat means he has now learned to let his feline companion dine first.

Gerard’s mother, Brid Lynch, who is in her 90s, says she has never seen anything like this.

For the past few weeks the fox has been a regular suppertime visitor to the Lynch’s thatched cottage at Bodane, Tuam, Co Galway.!

“It is fun to watch the cat and fox sitting beside each other at the back door and the cat just blinked as the fox arrived.

“Then one of them went to the tin first to eat and afterwards the other did the same,” says Rachel Lynch, daughter of Anne and Gerard.

The family have some video footage of the fox at the back door eating the food, while from time to time, raising its head and glancing around and scurrying off every time the cat approaches the tin.

But when the two animals have enough they sometimes relax in the yard outside for a few minutes. According to the Lynch family the fox may be a young cub that has recently started to fend for itself, as they believe there may be a number of foxes in woodlands close to their home.

“We feel this fox is one of a family we watched frequently playing in our back garden in the autumn. It was fascinating to watch the mother fox jump three or four feet to grab a sweet apple off one of the trees and eat it,” says Ann Lynch.

“The young fox would be familiar with the area since the autumn, and perhaps after it left the family nest, it may have decided to come back here for food,” says Ann.

Initially, the fox was coming to a dish containing food for the stray cat that they also feed. At first the food was placed some distance from the back door of their home. But during the snow and frost, when they moved the food dish closer to the door, the fox willingly followed.

The wild animal looks to be very well fed and seems to be getting more comfortable eating at the Lynch home each evening.

He is unfazed by the presence of family members, including 13-month-old grandson Aaron, or his great-grandmother Brid, peering at him through the glass of the patio door.