Caught on Camera

Published 5:50 pm Saturday, December 14, 2013

Photo provided by the Jay C. Nature Center

Photo provided by the Jay C. Nature Center

The Jay C. Hormel Nature Center recently caught this picture of a gray fox on a trail cam. After a car hit a deer on 21st Street Northeast outside the Nature Center, the deer was moved into the Nature Center and the trail cam was set up near the remains. Executive Director Larry Dolphin even used the deer as a teaching tool for third-grade students visiting the center, telling them when a deer dies, it provides food for the rest of the forest. “Even though it’s dead, it’s still providing life for other animals,” Dolphin said. Along with multiple visits by the gray fox, the cam also captured shots of mink, possum and skunks. Nature Center staff have caught foxes and coyotes on the trail cam before, also when the cam was set up near a dead deer.