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By Betsy Parker
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
IN THE SUNNY CORNER OF AN OPEN FIELD, FLINT HILL — Whiskers faintly quivering, the fox stares intently at the tufted grass. His red fur shimmers with a passing puff of late afternoon breeze. But his sooty pads, his white-tipped brush, his dark red body freeze in suspended animation, a three-dimensional Munnings painting brought to life.
Fully engrossed on this 2inch patch of frosty earth, to him nothing else in the world matters.
All at once, the fox pounces forward, jumping 5 feet ahead to spring a trap on the unfortunate mouse he s been watching for the past half-hour.
His stealth hunt complete, the fox cuts a bold tangent, trotting purposefully across the grassy field, skirting the darkened woodline and fading into the shadows. Dinner in his belly, he has not a care in the world.
The world, on the other hand, cares a good bit about him.
The fox surely has no idea, none at all, of his salient role in a pending global fight, one that started in his native England and that could soon affect his Virginia hunt country home.
Background
Widely considered vermin, and touted as the most abundant, dispersed wild carnivore in the world, the fox recently whipped the world of horse and field sports into a frenzy.
Though no bigger than a large house cat, the fox was at the forefront of a protracted battle, in the British Parliament that ended with a bang Nov. 18, as members of the Labour Party pushed through legislation to
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