While President Obama deals with Russian President Vladimir Putin abroad, the groundskeepers and Secret Service agents who guard the White House are trying to combat an equally wily opponent at home.
The latest gatecrasher to show up at the president’s home uninvited is not a “Real Housewife” but a real, live fox.
The little red fox was first spotted on the White House grounds last fall, just before the government shutdown.
According to The Wall Street Journal, while White House staffers found themselves at home during the furlough, the fox made himself at home at the White House.
“We don’t mind that he passes through, but we don’t want him to stay,” Dale Haney, the superintendent of the White House grounds, told the newspaper. “No overnight guests.”
Though the ground that houses the First Family is one of the most highly- protected properties in the world, the fox has managed to outfox everyone, literally.
The Wall Street Journal reported White House groundskeepers have planted traps and used bait to lure the fox, all to no avail. Their aim is not to kill the fox, according to the paper, but to relocate him to a nearby park. In the meantime, the fox is seemingly enjoying his place among the nation’s seat of power. White House staffers have spotted the fox jumping a fence and sleeping in the bushes.
Aides told the Wall Street Journal the president himself was “stunned” when he caught a glimpse of the fox from inside the Oval Office scampering along the colonnade along the White House Rose Garden.