Sanikiluaq (Oct 16/06) - The fox has a reputation for being crafty, cunning and difficult to outsmart.

Johnny Meeko - a culture teacher at Nuiyak school in Sanikiluaq - has decided that if he has to take on the foxes coming into the community, he is going to use some traditional knowledge.

Johnny Meeko helped the students at Nuiyak school in Sanikiluaq build this traditional fox trap. - photo courtesy of Tim Hoyt

Meeko recently built two traditional fox traps, with the help of the kids in his class.

"The first kind is very narrow. There is string, and when the fox takes a bite, it pulls the trigger. A rock drops and the trap closes," Meeko explained.

A trap just like that one waits outside Nuiyak school, for a fox to stumble across.

The second kind of trap was too large for Meeko and the kids to make, so they just made a small model.

"The other one is like a dome. I've seen one on one of the islands. It is six-to-eight-feet tall, and the diameter is six feet," said Meeko.

This dome trap is simple yet effective. The fox climbs up the outside of the trap, which has a set of stairs for the animal. Seeing food in the bottom of the trap, the fox enters through a hole in the ceiling. The dome structure prevents the fox from climbing out, kind of like a fish in a barrel.

While the students have not caught a fox in their traditional trap yet, Meeko has faith, and another plan.

"If we had of used a rock for a trigger we would have caught one by now," Meeko said. "I caught a fox last week. It was a red fox, it is too early for a white fox. Their fur isn't white yet."