South Yorkshire Times June 3, 1967

He’s Trying to Tame Cub

It is the ambition of 12 years old Stuart Pattison, of 10 Caernarvon Crescent, Bolton to become a gamekeeper, and he is making an early start by keeping a variety of animals and birds at his home.

The most recent addition to his menagerie is a young fox, about 10 weeks old, which he found while walking on Carr Head Lane, Bolton, with his father Mr Denis Pattison.

He took the Fox home, and is feeding it on dog meat and leftovers.

“I would like to see if I can tame the Fox,” said Stuart, “but if I cannot, I will let it go when it is a little older and able to look after itself properly.”

Stuart keeps the fox in a fenced run he and his father have made for the animals in the back garden of their home. At the moment it also contains a pair of ferrets and their young.

Stuart, who attends Dearneside secondary school and hopes to join the Rural Studies group next year, also had until recently a magpie which he found in a ditch with damaged wing feathers.

“I kept it until it could fly again, and then let it go,” he said.

In the past, he has also kept pigeons, rabbits and, one time, he had a young hare. He has a pet dog named Bess.

Stuart’s mother, Mrs Molly Patterson said: “He sometimes makes a lot of mess for me, but I do not really mind, as it is a good healthy hobby for him. He walks miles in the field, we never know what is going to bring home next.”