"WANTED" posters have been hung up in Grand Teton National Park to warn visitors that they may be visited by a sneaky thief if they aren't careful.
A shoe-stealing fox has snatched at least 32 shoes from campers and other visitors to the Wyoming national park in the last several weeks.
The thefts prompted park rangers to hang "WANTED" posters warning campers about the fox — whose aliases include "Sneaker Snatcher," "The Midnight Mismatcher” and "Swiper the Fox" — and advising them on how best protect their footwear.
Campers should keep their shoes in a secure location — like a bear box, inside their vehicles, or at very least inside their tents — to avoid losing them to the fox.
Officials told Backpack magazine they aren't entirely sure if it's one fox or a group of foxes stealing the shoes, but in either case, they want the thefts to stop.
Unfortunately, the park's warning seems to have backfired. According to a post on the park's Instagram account, the warnings apparently only encouraged the visitors to leave out their shoes in hopes of catching a glimpse of the larcenous fox and its potential accomplices.
“What does the fox do with the shoes? We still don’t know,” the park said in a social media post. “Maybe it’s a toy. Maybe it’s a nesting material collection. Maybe it’s fashion.”
Emily Davis, a spokesperson for Grand Teton National Park, told Backpacker that the shoe heists are quite real, and the park's response — though lighthearted in tone — is to educate guests, not encourage interaction with the foxes.
“We were trying to educate our visitors in a fun way about this fox and not to habituate it,” Davis told the magazine.
Park officials aren't sure why the fox or foxes keep targeting shoes. It could be that they are attracted to the salty sweat left in them after a day of hiking. But foxes are also generally mischievous and this one may simply just enjoy playing with shoes.
Whatever the reason, the thefts mean that a fox or foxes are venturing closer to humans and doing so regularly. When wild animals become too comfortable around humans, it can lead to unfortunate outcomes for both.
In general, the park service asks visitors to always stay at least 100 yards from bears and wolves, and 25 yards away from other animals, such as foxes.
“The NPS used humor to share the story of the sly shoe stealer, but they also pointed out that it’s a problem for the fox to get acclimated to humans because it may need to be relocated or, in the worst-case scenario, euthanized,” the NPS wrote in an Instagram caption.
Davis said that hikers and campers in the park should store their food, cosmetics and — at least during this latest crimewave — their unworn shoes inside of bear boxes. For those who don't camp, a bear box is a reinforced metal box meant to keep bears out.
For visitors who do see a fox shoe theft, the best course of action is to contact a ranger so they can follow up. For visitors who do not see a fox shoe theft, you might want to check your feet, because your shoes may already be gone.
