Many of us consider ourselves animal lovers. And, frankly, sometimes that gets us into a bit of trouble, especially when we touch or feed things we shouldn’t. For example, ANY wild animal that’s not in immediate need of help.

Steve Downer is a professional wildlife cinematographer living in England. He’s worked on nature documentaries for both the BBC and National Geographic Explorer, including Planet Earth, and The Blue Planet.

Downer knows his way around a camera and he’s got a massive amount of professional experience with wild animals – which is important to keep in mind here.

He’s also “a fox whisperer.”

According to his website on the project, A Skulk of Foxes:

“Back in the mid 1980’s, when I was starting to get work on major BBC nature series, a producer asked me to take on a tame vixen and to film her for…The Living Isles – A Natural History Of Britain & Ireland. Over the next 5 years I took on a further 3 foxes…”

So when we say Downer did the incorrect thing in a video that’s now gone viral on his YouTube channel with over 6.7 million views, we do understand he was in a vastly different position than others.

But his actions still carried the risks they would for anyone, especially the animal involved.

The wildlife cameraman decided to feed one of his local urban foxes.

Now, if you live in Britain in a neighborhood with yards, chances are there are some foxes around. They’re considered pests in England they’re so common. And some wildlife organizations even debate that people can feel welcome to feed them as long as they accept the risks since they don’t tend to easily become dependent on people.

But the risks involved include diseases that can easily be transferred to dogs (and some to humans), harm to the other wildlife in your yard (which they’re often happy to eat even if you’re feeding them), harming the fox’s digestive system with processed food, supporting their population to the point where it will need to be culled, making them unafraid of humans (to the point where they will approach children, the elderly, and anyone who simply does not want to hang out with a fox – they will even approach people in cars, which can easily end in tragedy), allowing them to pose danger to outdoor cats (not their favorite meal, but one that will do in a pinch), causing them to develop aggressive behavior when they are not fed (by you or other humans), robbing them of their ability to fend for themselves (especially juveniles), and…you know, fox bites.

They don’t have rabies in England, so that’s not a risk, but the rest are. And it’s a bummer because foxes are really cute and it would be lovely if they were really the Disney-fied versions we picture in our heads that we could play with like puppies and then let go into the wilderness when we’re busy. But they must retain their hunting skills and self-sufficiency as wild animals.

So you pose a risk to yourself, your neighbors, children, pets and other small wildlife, and the foxes themselves when you get too chummy.

But now that we’ve laid out the dangers, let’s see what the video is about. Just don’t get any ideas.

An adorable fox has decided to check out Downer’s wonderful garden. And since he’s a wildlife photographer he’s set up a 4K UHD 2160p on a GoPro Hero 5 camera in his yard to catch such encounters.

Downer comes out of his house with a bowl and sits down in the garden.

The fox isn’t quite sure what to do but has clearly had enough experience with humans at this point to realize he may not be a threat. So it watches from a few feet away.

No, he shouldn’t be doing that, but his heart’s in the right place. We get that. The fox gets it too – or else it’s lured by the smell of something.

So it sidles over to him with its eyes on the prize.

Foxes don’t want to be friends with us, they just want food. And Downer’s got some.

The fox crisscrosses the yard, making sure the approach is safe.

And when he comes up to the food bowl (with Downer sitting right next to it), she knows it’s snack time and starts chowing down.

There’s even a sweet moment where she looks right at him as if to say “thanks, buddy.”

When she’s done eating, Downer decides to see just how friendly the creature is, so he sticks out his hand for it to sniff.

It’s clear the fox has been fed before and was comfortable around people – but trying to make a fox a friend is not the right thing to do, even if it makes for cute video.

She nips him. Of course she does.

She’s a wild animal.

Everyone is fine, but it almost serves as a little slap on the wrist from Mother Nature.

And while that ends the video, which has been viewed by millions, it’s not the last time Downer fed or got chummy with the fox.

In fact, his caption says “Friendly wild urban fox comes to be fed #2” can be found at https://youtu.be/wI05hlRLwmA.” (Spoiler: he gets nipped AGAIN, AND there’s a Part 3.)

To be fair, he lives in Birmingham, England, which does have a Wildlife Trust that largely leaves it up to residents whether or not they want to feed the foxes (and accept the risks).

Alas, as much as we appreciate Downer’s experience and love of wildlife, later videos show him leaving his back door open so that the fox can come into his home!

So far it’s only stolen a Croc shoe, but now we clearly have to worry about the fashion sense of the local fox population.

The moral of the story is: don’t try this at home, no matter where you live. There are more than enough YouTube videos to make your heart swell at the sight of cute animals.

You can scroll down below to see Downer’s encounter with the fox from 2018.

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Source: Steve Downer – Wildlife Photographer via YouTube, The Wildlife Trusts of Birmingham and Black Counties, A Skulk of Foxes