Capitol Hill Fox: Monuments Fan
We know money’s tight over at the U.S. National Park Service (thanks, sequester!), so HOH has taken the liberty of penning the following public service announcement free of charge:
Dear tourists,
If, as you’re making your way around all the iconic D.C. attractions, you happen to spot a whiskered face staring back at you from the surrounding foliage, don’t be alarmed.
It’s probably just Capitol Hill Fox out stretching its legs.
P.S. It doesn’t appear to be particularly camera shy, so snap away.
The humans who spy the critter, on the other hand, are typically entranced.
Particularly youngsters.
Former Hill staffer Matthew Bisbee credited the CHF with pretty much making his 5-year-old son’s day during an otherwise exhausting lap around D.C. last summer.
Per Bisbee, he and his brood crisscrossed the city on June 4, burning daylight with tours of the Capitol and visits with members of Congress before making their way to Old Ebbitt Grill for a late dinner and posing for pics in front of the White House. A trip to the Lincoln Memorial was the last stop on their agenda.
“It was a beautiful evening, but darkness was setting in by the time this group of Illinois natives arrived to where our favorite son boldly sits in marble. However, somewhere between the end of the reflecting pool and the steps up to the Memorial, a fox caught the attention of us and the several folks who were in our same National Mall position,” Bisbee said of the fateful foray.
The animal, he posited, was too busy with pressing fox business to worry about what the crowd of awestruck onlookers were up to.
“He simply foraged around in what grass was available — he/she was not in any hurry or fear of the people — but soon descended back into the nearby trees,” Bisbee recounted.
Sadly, it was too dark to preserve the moment with a picture. But it was still a magical experience for his mini-me.
“He/she was quite the eye candy for my 5-year-old who was growing weary of a long day in DC,” Bisbee suggested.
Sounds like you’ve made a friend for life, CHF.