Hokkaido is a wildlife photography paradise, and around this time each year, I begin triple-checking all my camera equipment in preparation for my annual Hokkaido winter wildlife photography workshop.  Among the land bound wildlife such as the Hokkaido Red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), the largest herd of Hokkaido sika deer (Cervus nippon), the Iizuma or least weasel (Mustela nivalis), I am always delighted to track and spot Hokkaido’s Ezo red fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki) in the wild while leading a Hokkaido photo tour. These majestic creatures can also be found on the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, and the surrounding Northern Japanese Islands. The Ezo red fox is larger than the Japanese red fox found on Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Also, there are slight differences in the color of the lines on the outer ears and limbs, but other than that, they are very similar.

The wild Hokkaido red fox is known to build its den in woodlands, on mountainsides, often near streams, avoiding residential areas, unlike some Ezo red foxes that have become dependent on human handouts and build their dens closer to human settlements and often visit during tourist season seeking handouts.   As a wildlife conservationist, I advocate wild animals should stay wild and not become dependent on human handouts.  My Cree upbringing is similar to that of the First Nations people of Hokkaido, the Ainu, in that both First Nations people respect their environment and all that occupies it.  The Ainu also refer to the Hokkaido Ezo red fox as a kamuy, or guardian spirit.

A few years back, I recall a disturbing episode of international tourists stopping on a major Hokkaido highway roadway bridge in winter to photograph a Hokkaido red fox depending on handouts, and on both sides of the bridge were guardrails that their Hokkaido photo tour leader foolishly ignored!  This was a sad day as two semi-trucks came barreling down the road from opposite directions, and there was not enough clearance for the two semi-trucks to pass the parked vehicles with tourists photographing outside on the bridge and inside the vehicles; as a result, the trucks crashed into the parked vehicles on the bridge, and several tourists were crushed, just to take a snapshot of a product of our society “a once wild animal now dependent on human handouts.”

Three years ago, I was incensed because a new driver on my annual Hokkaido Tour did what a one-time co-leader asked of him, an American based out of Indianapolis, to stop between two guard rails on a major Hokkaido roadway so they could capture images of an Ezo Red Fox. A minute beforehand, I had spotted the fox, but I kept on going, as it was not safe to stop, and I could tell this fox was only looking for handouts. When I looked in my rearview mirror, images of the prior disaster ran through my head, so I quickly turned my SUV around and stopped just before the guard rails.  I jumped out quickly, dashed over to them, and told everyone to either walk 10 meters down the road to a safe location or get in the SUV.  Now!  I ordered my new driver to move as quickly as possible, giving them no time to think or reply. It was a moment of pure instinct and survival for everyone.  To make sure the Ezo Red Fox wouldn’t stick around for photos, I quickly put together a snowball and hurled it at the fox so it would move on, but it was so dependent on human handouts that it hardly stirred; however, I made sure no one offered it any handouts.  After everyone moved down the road to a safe location, I gave my clients a couple of minutes to take their photos.   At our next scheduled stop in Lake Kussharo, I recounted everything to my co-leader, my support group team members, and clients about what had happened in a very similar situation “as mentioned above,” and believe me, there were no more unexpected stops on any major roadways to capture photos of any of Hokkaido’s wildlife or landscapes after this incident unless I deemed it safe.