QUE
REN
KIN
G-O
ROZ
CO
■My husband and I like to sleep with the
bedroom windows open in the summer.
Even though we live in a city, the morning
“alarm” in our quiet neighborhood is
usually birdsong.
Earlier this year, though, we were
woken in the middle of the night by a
wild cry, something between a bark and a
scream. As I lay in bed, wondering drowsily what animal could be making
those sounds, a notion popped into my head: fox! The next morning, I con-
firmed my suspicions by listening to recordings of fox warning calls online.
But what truly sealed the deal was watching a red fox chase a local tomcat
down the street a few nights later. The tom had gotten too close to the den.
These nighttime warning calls continued for weeks, and neighbors
began talking. Some had seen one of the adults, or a kit, in their
backyards. Others had been losing chickens and were seriously displeased
about it. All of us were surprised by the presence of a fox den in our urban
neighborhood. We reinforced our chicken coops and kept the tomcats
locked up at night, and let the fox family live unmolested.
This experience has made me consider how some wildlife is resilient
enough to survive (even thrive) under pressure, while other species suffer.
When I was a kid growing up on a farm in Kansas, far away from city
development, we rarely saw undomesticated animals other than pheasants
and jackrabbits. Pheasants were so common that we had to dodge them
while driving down country roads. At least once a week, we’d see two or
three gangly, awkward jackrabbits loping across a dusty field. Pheasant
calls can still be heard in the mornings, but not nearly as often. Jackrab-
bits are so rare that my parents can’t remember the last time they saw one.
But other wildlife is common. We almost never saw deer when I was
a kid, but now they’re so plentiful and destructive that they’re a great
nuisance. Turkeys, squirrels, raccoons, Canada geese: Where were these
animals hiding four decades ago?
Last spring, just two days after I’d removed the row cover from my
lettuce, I discovered it’d been eaten to the ground. Some of the plants
were pulled up by the roots, so I knew the damage couldn’t have been
done by rabbits. A neighbor soon confirmed my suspicions by sharing her
cellphone video of five deer strolling down our sidewalk. A small herd of
deer living in the city! How times have changed.
Do you have any stories about how wildlife populations have trans-
formed in your lifetime? Email me at [email protected], and you may
end up in the magazine.A WILD LIFE
Rebecca Martin, Group Editor, Rural Lifestyles
[email protected] @RebeccaGrasslandsVOLUME 137, ISSUE 5
ISSUE EDITORS
TRACI SMITH, Lead Editor
CASEY MARSHALL, Assistant Lead Editor
EDITORIAL GROUP
OSCAR H. WILL III, Editorial Director
REBECCA MARTIN, Group Editor, Rural Lifestyles
JEAN DENNEY, Group Editor, Wellness and Gardening
LANDON HALL, Group Editor, Collectibles
CAITLIN WILSON, Senior Managing Editor
AMANDA SORELL, Senior Copy Editor
HALEY CASEY, Associate Editor
ALLISON SARKESIAN, Associate Editor
JESSICA MITCHELL, Associate Editor
ARTHUR HUR, Associate Editor
JORDAN MOSLOWSKI, Assistant Editor
RYAN CROWELL, Assistant Editor
BLAIR GORDON, Assistant Editor
ILENE REID, Editorial Assistant
JORDAN CARLEY, Intern
CONVERGENT MEDIA
BRENDA ESCALANTE; [email protected]
ART/PREPRESS
MICHELLE GALINS, Art Director
KAREN ROOMAN, KIRSTEN MARTINEZ, Prepress Staff
WEB AND DIGITAL CONTENT
TONYA OLSON, Web Content Manager
DISPLAY ADVERTISING
(800) 678-5779; [email protected]
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
(866) 848-5346; [email protected]
NEWSSTAND
Melissa Geiken, (785) 274-
CUSTOMER CARE • (866) 803-
[email protected]BILL UHLER, Publisher
OSCAR H. WILL III, Editorial Director
CHERILYN OLMSTED, Circulation & Marketing Director
BOB CUCCINIELLO, Newsstand & Production Director
BOB LEGAULT, Sales Director
CAROLYN LANG, Group Art Director
ANDREW PERKINS, Director of Events
and Business Development
TIM SWIETEK, Information Technology Director
ROSS HAMMOND, Finance & Accounting Director
GRIT Magazine (ISSN 0017-4289)
September/October 2019, Vol. 137, Issue #5 is
published bimonthly by Ogden Publications, Inc.,
1503 S.W. 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265.
Periodicals Postage Paid at Topeka, KS and additional
mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Ogden Publications, Inc.,
1503 S.W. 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265.
For subscription inquiries call: (866) 803-- Outside the U.S. and Canada,
call 1-785-274-4361 • Fax: (785) 274-
SUBSCRIBERS: If the Post Office alerts
us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have
no further obligation unless we receive a corrected
address within two years.
©2019 Ogden Publications Inc.
Printed in the U.S.A.
®Our View