Foxes are heavily intertwined with human settlements. While interaction with humans has its disadvantages, these two Scottish photographers’ story shows how they did their best to help a fox that had been orphaned by one of these dangers.

Photographers Peter Lewis and Mark Strachan were getting some nature shots in a field near Petershead, on the northeast coast of Scotland, when they found three fox cubs last summer. They returned a few times to photograph the animals from a distance, but when they found a fox dead on a nearby road and made the connection, they felt like they had to step in. Feeling a duty to help the orphaned cubs, but not wanting them to grow up without the skills to take care of themselves, Lewis says they ran through the field with bits of chicken on a string teaching the foxes to hunt.

For six months, the two photographers have been occasionally visiting Black Paws, as they called the most outgoing member of the litter who has stuck around in the same area. This beautiful photoshoot shows that, while the young fox was excited to see the photographers again, she has been flourishing on her own.

The photographers had a photoshoot with the juvenile fox they helped raise

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

“We turned up and used our way of letting her know we were there, and she was out like a dog that had been waiting for its master all day,” Lewis said. “We became her foster parents. There was one month I had to rely on Mark to feed her as holidays in the highlands stopped me from getting out seeing her. When I saw her again I was not let down as the cub that once looked so vulnerable was blossoming into a very beautiful vixen and she hadn’t forgotten me.”

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

“She was bolder than ever coming right up and sat yards from me,” said the photographer of the emotional reunion. “This is a wild fox and it amazes me as to how much this she let us into her life, maybe she was relying on us to help her into adulthood.”

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Image credits: Mark Strachan and Peter Lewis

Foxes are controversial in cities in the UK, where people are divided between considering them pests, and being charmed by them. Some people can’t resist feeding city foxes on their back porches, while their neighbors resent them for enabling animals that make a mess of their gardens. BBC Wildlife takes the position that there is little danger of foxes becoming dependent on human handouts, should people choose to feed them, as they are always on the move in the area where they hunt and scavenge, and do not wait to look for food. People should be warned against trying to tame foxes, though, as foxes that boldly approach humans and their houses can be a nuisance. Living in rural Scotland, Black Paws, unlike city foxes, likely has a wide territory and comes across humans less frequently.