A fluffy intruder at the White House

[IIOY]

WASHINGTON—There's a new guest at the White House. Unlike most people who pass through the presidential residence, he wasn't invited. But in cutthroat Washington fashion, he saw weakness and took advantage. Now he rests and plays uninhibited at the seat of power.

He also has pointy ears and a bushy tail.

The little red fox, who hasn't been named, turned up on the White House grounds in the weeks before the government shutdown in October. After many White House groundskeepers were furloughed, the fox settled in. Months later, the furry little conundrum has left officials who sort through some of the world's most complex challenges scratching their heads.

The fox lacks the deference typically exhibited by White House guests. He tore through the White House garden when it was left unattended during the shutdown. He graduated to tripping alarms in the middle of the night, napping wherever he pleases and generally living the high life on a campus overseen by dozens of highly trained Secret Service agents.

Even President Barack Obama was stunned, aides say, when he looked outside the Oval Office one morning to see the fox running down the same open-air colonnade along the Rose Garden that has been traversed by American presidents and world dignitaries for the past century.

No one can catch the fox, although it isn't for lack of trying. White House groundskeepers bought a handful of metal traps and scattered them around the complex, with no success. The idea of shooting him was never considered, officials say. Instead, the crew that tends the grounds at the White House spent hours plotting to lure him into the traps with rotting hunks of chicken, so they could relocate him some 3 miles south to a park along the Potomac River.

"We don't mind that he passes through, but we don't want him to stay," said Dale Haney, the superintendent of the White House grounds, who has worked in the 18-acre park since 1972. "No overnight guests."

For many people who work at the White House, the fox is a myth. Few have seen him and only one staff photograph is known to exist. Reporters spotted him in February, trotting across the South Lawn moments before Mr. Obama landed there in Marine One.

Josh Earnest, a deputy White House press secretary, saw him at night late last fall. Mr. Earnest was leaving the West Wing from a side entrance onto a closed street when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye.

"I thought it was a cat," he said. "But then as I focused on it, it was clear it was much bigger than a cat." The fox looked at him, moved between some cars and jumped the fence to the South Lawn.

"I was like, 'Oh I should take a picture. This is crazy. There is a fox at the White House,' " Mr. Earnest said. "And he was gone."

Danielle Crutchfield, the White House director of scheduling and advance, had better luck. She was leaving the White House one evening late last summer when she saw the fox snoozing in the bushes. She got about 10 feet from him and snapped a photo. "It just woke up and looked at me," she said. "Any normal fox may have been a little nervous and ran away, but he didn't seem fazed by me at all."

She added: "I haven't seen it since."

Mr. Haney and his team first spotted the fox in a small garden next to the tennis courts last summer. It was around 7 a.m. They followed him up the driveway to the president's putting green. "He was marking everything really heavily," Mr. Haney recalled. "Lifting his leg, leaving his scent."

The White House hosts plenty of wildlife, but a fox was unusual enough that Mr. Haney made a note of it. He had a group of eight groundskeepers spend about 45 minutes each morning checking ivy beds and poking around in shrubs to look for dens or any signs of nesting. They didn't find any. The hunt has subsided, although traps remain. Some think there is more than one fox, although Mr. Haney said there is no evidence of that, either.

Secret Service officials won't provide details of alarms the fox has set off and how they have had to respond. "We can't discuss the alarms and capabilities," said Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie. "But we also have cameras that monitor that stuff."

When George H.W. Bush was president, staff in the residence started noticing the slow disappearance of goldfish in a small pond on the president's private patio adjacent to his study. They discovered raccoons were coming in at night and nabbing the fish. The pond was covered with chicken wire.

To save President Richard Nixon from the mating calls of starlings nesting along the White House windows, Mr. Haney said residence staff would stand under the windows at dusk banging trash-can lids together to keep the birds from settling in. Eventually they installed a system that emitted quieter noises to deter them.

During the Clinton administration, a handful of deer, including several bucks, jumped over the fence along the North Lawn and temporarily made the White House and neighboring Treasury Department their home. Mother mallard ducks can be seen taking their babies to swim in the fountain on the South Lawn. The ducklings don't always last long, however, often becoming prey to crows and other large birds in the White House trees.

Smokey the gray cat seems to have hung around the White House the longest. Smokey was a sad-looking stray with a missing tail. He spent years wandering around the lawns, living off tuna fish from sympathetic White House aides. He died last year of old age.

A red fox is less of a pet. With a sleek coat of burnt orange fur, they are typically about 3 feet long, 2 feet tall and weigh up to 15 pounds. They will eat fruit—that is why first lady Michelle Obama's garden is a target—but prefer rodents and other small animals.

The fox, or perhaps his doppelgänger, seems to be making his way around Washington power houses. Jeffrey Goldberg, a foreign-policy columnist, tweeted last week: "Just saw an actual fox outside the State Department. Kind of just looking around."

Photo, video, and map of the perpetrator's movements at link

[downtoearth]

What does the Fox (News) say about what the free-loading, furlough-advantage-taking, furry fox say?

[ESF]

I know foxes are nasty fuckers, but they are also really cute.

[ttt]

But what does he say??

[ttt]

[pixy0stix]

I love foxes. When they're around we have significantly fewer cats on the loose in our neighborhood.

[gpw]

Well, this thread really wouldn't be complete without it

[Deleted]

I love our neighborhood fox. It's so fun seeing him in the park behind our house.

[debatethis]

Apr 18, 2014 15:34:27 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I love foxes. When they're around we have significantly fewer cats on the loose in our neighborhood.

Cicero, here's the solution to the cat problem.

[litebright]

There's a FOX at the WHITE HOUSE?!?!

...


That's what she said.

[elleblue]

Apr 18, 2014 15:34:13 GMT -5 ttt said:

You do know it's a children's book now, right?

[Cicero]

How can one procure a fox for their neighborhood?

[notsocreepylurker]

I thought this would be about the Easter Bunny when I saw the headline.

Foxes are cute

[laurenpetro]

It's a Russian spy.

[elleblue]

Apr 18, 2014 19:58:52 GMT -5 laurenpetro said:

It's a Russian spy.

Probably, haven't they been working on experimenting with domesticating foxes since they have similar characteristics to dogs? *looks suspiciously about*

[gpw]

Apr 18, 2014 19:20:38 GMT -5 Cicero said:

How can one procure a fox for their neighborhood?

Call the White House.  They may have one for you. 

[Deleted]

A fox attacked our cat (before we adopted him). Our cat won. Our cat is a badass.

[sugarglider]

Apr 18, 2014 22:33:49 GMT -5 @domerjen said:

Truth - this is the first time I've ever watched that video.

Thanks Obama!

You've been missing out. Go check out all other Ylvis videos ASAP. Massachusetts is a favorite of mine; bf is fond of Stonehenge.

[laurenpetro]

Apr 18, 2014 22:45:05 GMT -5 @sunfl0wer22 said:

A fox attacked our cat (before we adopted him). Our cat won. Our cat is a badass.

He must be. I've seen a fox take down a cat. It was not pretty.

[LoveTrains]

Apr 18, 2014 23:22:25 GMT -5 sugarglider said:

Apr 18, 2014 22:33:49 GMT -5 @domerjen said:

Truth - this is the first time I've ever watched that video.

Thanks Obama!

You've been missing out. Go check out all other Ylvis videos ASAP. Massachusetts is a favorite of mine; bf is fond of Stonehenge.

What am I missing, because I seriously don't understand why the Massachusetts one is funny.