‘I think he’s a regular visitor.’ Fox holes up in Yellowknife bedroom

Yellowknife already has a children’s book named The Fox and My Boot. Not yet covered: The Fox and My Bedroom.

Camilla MacEachern faced that scenario on Thursday after thinking she heard her dog licking an empty food bowl.

“I was like, poor little fella, I’ve got to give him some breakfast. So I went in and there was a fox, like he’d been there before, standing over the dog dishes, licking the bowl,” she told Cabin Radio.

“He hid behind my little laundry rack and eventually ran into my bedroom.”

Foxes are a common sight in Yellowknife but rarely do they take up residence. MacEachern leaves her side door open in the mornings so she can hear the birds and the dog can freely roam, and she assumes that’s how the fox made its entrance.

“He was in there for about an hour,” she said of the fox’s bedroom sit-in. Eventually, she brought a neighbour over “for moral support” and called wildlife officers for backup. By this point, the fox was under the bed.

Before the wildlife cops could arrive, the fox casually made its way out of the bedroom and vanished into the yard and beyond.

“I think he’s a regular visitor,” said MacEachern, whose eyes have been opened by the chance encounter.

“I feel like he’s maybe been here before and eaten the dog food.”

MacEachern added the fox – who went unnamed by her through its morning ordeal – had “left a couple little gifts behind” as trip mementoes.

In an email sent to Cabin Radio after this article was published, Toyeke Adedipe, a spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Climate Change, said the public should not handle wild foxes under any circumstance because they could carry diseases and parasites like rabies and intestinal parasites “that pose a risk to humans and pets.”

“If you have had direct contact with a fox and believe you may have been exposed to a wildlife related disease, contact your health care provider as soon as possible,” said Adedipe.

Commending MacEachern’s actions, Adedipe said the public should contact their ECC Regional Office for assistance with removing a wild animal from a home. People should also report if they’ve had direct contact with wildlife.

“Foxes, I think, are the perfect pet,” said MacEachern, while acknowledging actually keeping one as a pet is illegal under NWT legislation (as it is in most other places).

“They’re like a dog-cat combination and, if it was not faux pas and unacceptable, I absolutely would have kept Foxy,” she said, belatedly offering the animal a name, “and I think Foxy would have stayed.”

Correction: August 10, 2026 – 8:42 MT. This story has been updated with information from the Department of Environment and Climate Change on what to do if you encounter a wild fox in your home.