KILLINCHY Primary School has added a new name to their register after a wild fox came to visit the school grounds.
A young fox seems keen to take up lessons at the rural school, having been spotted checking out the education centre not once, but twice, and stirring up excitement among staff and pupils.
Caught once on CCTV cameras enjoying some recreation time in the playground during the day, and a second time arriving before the school bell rang out, the fox has become a big talking point among the school community.
Talking about their recent visitor, principal Chris Currie joked that he had suspected there had been some wildlife nearby, with pupils having to clean their shoes every so often, placing blame on cats. However after witnessing the fox himself, he may owe the feline community an apology.
Describing the first encounter with the fox last month, Mr Currie said: “He walked up the cul-de-sac in the broad light of day, right up to the front gate, under the pupil entry gate and into the playground. He dandered across the playground at about 2pm, right in the middle of the day.
“It was so strange, I’ve never known the likes of it.”
He continued: “I remember somebody telling me years ago that if you see a fox in the daylight it’s because it is either blind or young but I don’t think it is blind because he’s fairly sharp in his movements, so I presume it is just a wee pup.”
Catching the moment on CCTV, the images were posted online, calling for name suggestions for their new ‘mascot’.
While there were numerous names suggested, the school adopted the name Crafty for their new visitor, with a nod to the village’s renowned shop ‘The Crafty Fox’.
“The owners of The Crafty Fox send their kids to school here and so we thought that was a no-brainer,” said Mr Currie.
After the first visit, Mr Currie did not expect to see Crafty again, but was pleasantly surprised to see the unusual visitor at school once again last week.
Mr Currie recalled: “I drove into the car park at about 8.10am and there was a couple of staff holding their phones taking loads of photographs.
“I pulled the car in, with the lights still on, and it didn’t move. The fox was just sitting there having a great old time and looking at everybody.
“One of the staff members actually said he was about to come over to her, she had been beckoning him over to her and I drove in and it ran back a bit.”
Crafty was so keen to learn something new, he even snooped around the school entrance doors, only to be caught by the school secretary, causing him to scamper off.
The fox took himself off to play, rolling about and enjoying himself on the school ground, before calmly leaving, having had his fill of education for the day.
“It certainly made for a fun morning,” Mr Currie laughed. “I suppose it is one of those lovely things about being a rural school.”
Mr Currie added that while he has enjoyed Crafty’s visits to school, he was keen to ensure the fox didn’t get ‘too comfortable’, noting that he was still a wild fox despite his tame nature.
“Somebody online had suggested we should feed him, but we are not going to do that,” Mr Currie said.
“He is a wild animal at the end of the day. He might look cute and all that but we don’t want any of the kids getting snapped or bitten out of innocence.”
