SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and his wife, Diana, have learned that their temporary home already has tenants. A mother red fox and six pups are living under the front stairs of the director’s house on the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.
The Rauners have relocated there while the 162-year-old Executive Mansion is undergoing renovation . Diana Rauner has raised $14 million to restore the mansion which Abraham Lincoln visited. That includes $1 million from the Rauners themselves.
Rauner’s bird-dog Stella is not staying with the governor currently. He says that’s “so we don’t have an interaction that would be very unproductive” between the dog and the fox family.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources reports that red foxes prefer to live in grasslands and other open areas.
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