The annual JDS Hokkaido photography tours include numerous opportunities to spot and photograph wildlife such as the Ezo Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki) also known as the Sakhalin fox, which is a subspecies of red fox that thrives in Hokkaido.  These cagey hunters can also be found on the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, and the surrounding Northern Japanese Islands. The Hokkaido Ezo red fox is larger than the Japanese red fox found on Japan’s other islands: Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.  Also, there are slight differences in the color of the lines on the outer ears and limbs and black tips on the Hokkaido red foxes’ ears, but other than that, they are very similar.  The source of the difference in the species is Japan’s two distinct ecological lines dividing Japan's natural indigenous plant and animal life, the Blakiston’s Line and the Watase’s Line.  Due to this uniquely rare ecological condition, Japan is abundantly avifauna rich.  Any red fox found south of the Blakiston’s line (between Hokkaido and Honshu) is slightly smaller and carries a different binomial name, Vulpes vulpes japonicus.  The Ezo Red Foxes mainly feed on rats, hares, birds, and insects, and in the autumn, they enjoy eating fruit and nuts. Mother foxes give birth to their kits in the early spring, so by autumn, it is possible to see young adults recently broken away from their mothers and hunting independently for the first season.  When you spot a young adult or a full-grown Ezo Red Fox, you will marvel at their lustrous coat and witness the contrast of their fur against the stark whites of their surroundings. Our workshop leaders have spent over 25 years leading Hokkaido photography workshops and tours spotting and photographing these amazing foxes, but they cannot emphasize enough that these are wild animals, and Hokkaido locals are concerned now more than ever because of the recent spike in tourism and tourist pollution in Japan contributing to many tourists feeding them to get a snapshot.

A few years ago, during the annual Japan Dreamscapes Hokkaido photography workshop tour, our team was driving in a convoy of three vehicles.  Our workshop leader was in the lead vehicle, as he always is for spotting wildlife and landscapes.  He became incensed when he looked in my rearview mirror and saw that the vehicle of a one time co-leader stopped to capture a few snapshots of a fox.  The one time co-leader ordered one of my Japanese pro drivers to stop their vehicle on a small bridge between two guard rails on a hilly section of a major roadway.  And then clients got out of the vehicle to capture some images of the Ezo Red Fox.  The JDS Hokkaido photo workshop leader had spotted the fox, but he kept on going, as he knew it was not safe, and he could tell this fox was only looking for handouts.  As soon as he saw the other vehicle had stopped, he quickly turned his SUV around, stopped just before the guard rails, jumped out, quickly walked over to them, and told everyone to either walk 10 meters down the road to a safe location or get in the SUV, and he told the driver to move fast.  He gave them no time to think or reply.  The reason he knew it was not safe was that about seven years ago, there was a group of tourists who stopped on a bridge on a major roadway in Hokkaido, and out of nowhere two semi trucks came barreling down the road and could not stop; the trucks plowed into each other, the tourists, and their vehicle.  That accident made national and international news, and he remembers feeling sad when he heard about it.  When he stopped to tell them to move, he even quickly made a snowball and hurled it at the fox to move, but the fox was so dependent on human handouts that he hardly budged an inch. When everyone was in a safe location, he gave them a couple of minutes to take their photos; later that day, he told them about the accident that occurred a few years before, and there were no more unexpected stops on any major roadways to capture photos of any of Hokkaido’s wildlife or landscapes after that incident, unless it was safe.