Most nights this past polar bear season, quite a few curious arctic foxes and red foxes could be seen running around Churchill’s main drag, Kelsey Blvd.  NHA guide Justin Gibson wondered what would happen if he left his GoPro camera running outside of the hotel where NHA guests stay in Churchill.  Turns out the foxes weren’t as shy with a GoPro as they are with humans!

Have you heard of that bizarrely hilarious music video “What Does the Fox Say?” by Ylvis?  Don Martinson from our Boulder office has aptly nicknamed Justin’s video “What Does the Fox Steal?” because of what happens at the 1:05 marker.  You’ll see why.

Enjoy!  Make sure to read below for the inside scoop on the making of the video from Justin himself.  Thanks, Justin!

NHA guide Justin Gibson on the making of his GoPro fox video:
It has been an exceptional year for both arctic and red foxes in and around Churchill this year.  In seasons past, we were lucky to see an arctic fox with every other guided group; however, due to a population increase of lemmings, we were averaging a few sightings per day.  Behind one particular hotel (the Seaport), I could always spot at least three or four arctic foxes and a couple of red foxes using giant snow berms as vantage points to spot potential prey.  

Thankfully, I didn’t have to stay out there all night to wait, as it was bitter cold and while arctic foxes have been known to brave temperatures as low as -150F, I most certainly cannot!  I set it up on the snow berm and backed away twenty or so meters and waited.  Within minutes, the curious foxes were giving it a “taste test”.  Of course, their curiosity got the better of them and both an arctic fox and a red fox ran off with the GoPro.  In both instances, I ran after them and they dropped it within a few meters.  They may have kept running had their been anything of importance on the camera but luckily, it was just the traditional housing that comes stock with the GoPro.  

The cross phase red fox is always exciting to see because they are fairly rare.  They are sought after for their pelts.  So the ability to catch one on film carrying off a camera was pretty special.