One day at the end of July, Emma Thompson was sitting in her office working on something, the kitchen door open to let in some fresh air, when suddenly she had the feeling that she wasn’t alone.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something orange and moving right by my leg — at the same time, she saw me and raced out the door,” Thompson told The Dodo.

And that was the first time Thompson met Foxy.

Soon, Foxy began showing up in Thompson’s yard every day, and she slowly started to piece together her origin story. Foxy had been born in a neighbor’s yard, but the neighbor wasn’t a fan of foxes and destroyed the den. Foxy had nowhere to go, and on her search for a new place to live, she came across Thompson’s yard. Thompson seemed nice enough, so Foxy decided to stay, and now the pair hang out, from a distance, every single day.

It didn’t take long for Foxy to get comfortable in her new home, and now she acts as if she’s always lived there. She naps on the backyard sofa and hangs out with the cats, and even sneaks into the house sometimes and steals Thompson’s slippers. Once she knew it was safe, Foxy started bringing her sister around, too, and now the pair treat Thompson’s yard like their own personal playground.

Once Thompson realized that the pair were becoming comfortable enough to sneak into the house, she fixed the broken cat door to make it a bit more challenging for them, which Foxy was not at all pleased with.

“I didn’t mind her coming in when I knew where she was — but kind of didn’t want her running around the flat at night and stealing my things,” Thompson said. “So I replaced it. She wasn’t happy — now no matter how hard she tries, the flap won’t open.”

Thompson is very aware that Foxy and her sister are wild animals, and does her best to keep her distance to keep them from becoming reliant on humans. However, sometimes Foxy has other plans.

“I’ve never petted them, but Foxy has sniffed me many a time and curled her tail around my legs once,” Thompson said. “I thought it was one of the cats … [I] need to stress that I know they need to stay wary of humans. They do run if I move too quickly or raise my voice.”

Foxy and her sister are around 4 months old, so they’re still very young. The sweet little fox babies just wanted to find a safe place to grow up and be themselves — and Thompson is so honored that they chose her yard as their safe space.

“COVID has meant I’m working from home,” Thompson said. “Taking photos and videos of them in my garden is my happy place.”