Outfoxed! Cheeky cub clambers over camera equipment and takes pictures of professional photographer



It was a day a wildlife photographer found himself well and truly outfoxed.

Firing off frames of an inquisitive five-month-old vixen, photographer Simon Czapp soon realised his subject had quite an interest in photography herself.



The clever cub was so intrigued by the camera equipment she clambered right on top of it.



An eye for a picture: Jessie the vixen cub clambers over camera equipment in her pen at New Forest Wildlife Park in Ashurst, Hampshire

Make it snappy: The inquisitive cub managed to outfox the professional photographer and captured images of him taking her picture

And while she was supposed to be the subject of the shoot, the cub stood on the shutter release button and took her own frames.

Mr Czapp, 25, visited the New Forest Wildlife Park to capture images of new arrival Jessie, named after Toy Story's cowgirl.



She has been rehoused at the animal park in Ashurst, Hampshire - home to wolves, wallabies, deer and otters in 25 acres of ancient woodland - after being abandoned by her mother.



Jessie was offered a few scraps of ham to entice her into posing, but she quickly became so fascinated by the cameras she put on her own performance.



Mr Czapp, from Eastleigh, said: 'Jessie was very playful and inquisitive and not at all camera shy.



'Soon after I arrived she was chewing my shoes and everything seemed to be a game to her.



'Then she started exploring the camera I had set up on a tripod in her outdoor pen.



'She stood on her hind legs to peer into the lens and then used a tree stump to get a better look at the back of the camera.



'She balanced her front paws on it and and one point knocked it over.'



Smile: The inquisitive five month old vixen poses for the camera

Gotcha: The clever cub managed to press the shutter release button and captured this image of Simon Czapp photographing her

He repositioned the camera on the tripod nearer the tree stump and Jessie soon hopped back up.



At one point she had all four paws on the camera and was wobbling to keep her balance.



Mr Czapp added: 'She jumped up there several times and I realised it could make a good picture.



'As I was snapping away with the public's viewing window behind me, I thought I heard the camera go off but didn't think much of it.



'But when I checked the memory card afterwards, I was amazed to see Jessie had actually taken two frames of me photographing her.



'I couldn't believe I had been outfoxed by a fox!'



The wildlife park's head keeper, Shanna Dymond, 29, witnessed the impromptu photo shoot.



She said: 'Jessie is a lovely little cub. She is very inquisitive and as soon as we go to see her, she runs up to say hello and wags her tail.



'There were some lovely photos of her but she obviously thought the photographer was worthy of a picture too!'



Jessie and her pen mate, male fox cub Woody, were handed into an RSPCA centre in the spring but were too tame to be released into the wild.

