Yes, got the fox back.
Okay here's the run down. Set this job up Saturday.
In this part of Atlanta, properly in the city of Sandy Springs.
In this cul-de-sac.
The complaint was a litter of red fox living under a deck. The shaded area along the fence to the south is the deck. It is maybe eight inches off the ground but not fully skirted with an access point at the single circle. Five total counting one adult were seen on home security camera. Both homeowners are in agreement on trapping and removal.
So first single circle is a positive cage set using a Kirk Dekalb double door advanced trap. The two circles are also cage set using cheaper havajunks along the beaten path they are using. Up the hill and somewhat behind the shruberry are four footholds at the X's along the path they use at the cul-de-sac fence. The two center are duke 1.5 in front of a dirt hole. The outer two are duke 2 flat sets.
Get up early Sunday and run them before church. I have mama in the southernmost flatset X with a pup in the northernmost flat plus one in the left fork of the trail where the dirt holes are. None in the cages. Later a get a text saying I've caught another one so I go back after church and have the dog fox in the right fork dirt hole.
This was when the cat walker confronted me about who hired me to kill them. This guy never left the sidewalk so no harm no foul but I took the opportunity as I always do to explain just who I am and why I've been hired to include the rules and regulations I operate under. I do try to go into detail of the why such as the mid altlantic rabies outbreak and the fact the neither I nor the state have the resources to test every fox and just why I'm required to euthanize them. I hate it but I've learned the weasel language and how to try to place nice with the idiots. Well he didn't like it one bit but I thought he half way heard reason even if he was pacing in his driveway two doors down when I left.
Well this morning I get a text that another has been caught. So I head that way, I was going anyway but its nice to have the client let me know. I just wish he had let me know all the details. So as I get there and am in his yard he calls to let me know that someone had emailed the HOA and reported a strange man wandering around the neighborhood with a gun killing foxes.
And here I need to freely admit that I knowingly and willfully violate Georgia trapping regulations by not carrying a 22lr and using it to dispatch. Sorry Swampwolf I'll gladly accept your state ticket vs a federal felony for some of the places I go.
So no firearms involved.
Well this ain't good I better get my fox and get out. I pass the first cage on the way to the footholds and I have a kit. It's contained so I move on to the right fork foothold where I have another kit. Quick check other footholds empty. So as I'm about to address the one in front of me when I'm challenged from the yard. It's a yuppie yoga pants wearing female. She's on the other side of the bushes from me and my cages are out of my direct line of sight. Again I go through the whole rigamorole of who and what and why but this one ain't buying none of it so I direct her to go to the DNR website and contact the special permits unit if she has any other questions as she storms off. So I go back to lassoing and dispatching my fox.
So fox in hand I proceed directly to the cage to load cage and kit but it's gone. I'm hot and spoiling for a fight but she's nowhere to be seen. I call 911 and get an officer dispatched.
Now let me digress for a moment. We are required to dispatch all rabies vector species relocation is not allowed. My only other option is fox pens and all of those are way south of me and I don't collect enough fox or coyote at any one time to make that drive worth the trouble to do live market. Besides I really really don't want to have to explain just what a running pen is to these kind of people so it is never mentioned as an option. And there is the whole dispatch on site vs off site thing. Well I've had more issues arising from live animal in cage while riding around the metro than I have from a dead something. Well there was that Jesus opossum that came back to life but that's a whole nother story, lol. Basically I've made a business decision that if I can keep the deed out of sight behind bushes or fences it much quicker to not draw attention and just get it done. But I guess it failed me this time.
So officer arrives confirms my credentials, walks the line with me as I show him exactly how it went down. The neighbor shows up with video footage and the their is seen confronting me, trespassing to do so, taking the trap and crossing the street to stash the trap on the side of the house she entered, presumably hers.
So I get my trap back but she won't come to the door. This is where I started this post as I'm now just a bystander as the drama unfolds around me. Enter cat walker wife. She comes down the sidewalk towards me crying and squalling like you stole an ice cream cone from a two year old. Seriously I thought she was about to hit the ground throwing a hissy fit. So I ask her to take a breath and calm down if she wishes to have a reasonable discussion. But its fruitless the officer has to intervene and tell her that if she continued she would be placed under arrest for disorderly, interfering with a person in their duties, and obstructing. He had to tell her four times by my count before cat walker drug her off.
By now we are drawing a small crowd. And some bystanders have heard that some madman is running around killing foxes but most seem oddly surprised when I not only introduce myself and own up to it but go into the why of it. Whether they fully grasped that Atlanta does have rabies and removing foxes is needed I don't know but none chucked a rock at me.
So the officer tells me he'll wait her out but I can go. So I apologize to the client for the drama and the client asks me to reconsider prosecution as he doesn't want bad blood between neighbors. I don't want it either but I want the book thrown at her. I do leave there though with an agreement. If she will talk to me like a reasonable person and she can come to understand just why what she did was wrong them maybe I might reconsider.
Maybe a mile down the road the officer calls and says she's willing to talk. So turn around knowing this won't be good.
Standing in her driveway I'm given ample opportunity to state my case and I do so using the best biology and zoonotic and rules and regulatory I can muster. The entire time the officer is having to shush her to allow me to talk or telling cat walker wife that's she's about to go to jail and a new one the HOA president is getting that same invitation from the officer.
Then my turn to hear her out all I hear is I feel, I think, I,I,I,I.
I look at the officer and say go ahead just tell me when and and where I need to be to testify.