A very sad ending for the fox family

Ever since my wife saw a fox on a rainy day in April, I have been going to the site almost every other day to check up on the fox kits. The fox mother gave birth to kits right off a busy road where people drive like crazy at 50+ miles/hour. She did it for a reason though – not to get her babies eaten by coyotes, since coyotes try not to approach busy roads and highways. Initially, there were a total of 5 fox pups, plus the caring mother who had a hard time feeding herself because she was so busy providing food to her youngsters.

One of the fox pups was hit by a car after the first week and a local resident took him to a veterinarian, who had to put him down because the poor baby was suffering from severe head injuries. It was really sad to find out about it from the locals, who were stopping by daily, making sure that the pups were OK. Then all of a sudden, the mother disappeared. Apparently, a man who had a ranch on the other side of the road called trapping services and had the mother relocated somewhere else! Can you imagine, the guy didn’t even bother telling the trappers that she was a feeding mother for God’s sake! Apparently, he was getting angry because of the people who were stopping by and taking pictures…

Those who were closely watching the foxes realized that the mother was missing and started making calls. The fox was finally returned, but had an injury on one of her legs because the trappers had to dart and drug her several times. She was seen once after her return, but disappeared shortly after a big rain storm we had in south Denver about a week ago. I first thought that she would return and waited until 9 PM two days in a row, but she never showed up. The pups were getting hungry and they would come out of the den and start crossing the road to check up on their mother. Sadly, one of them was lost next day. I don’t know what happened, but it might have been either eaten by coyotes or hit by a car. Only three of them showed up from the den three days ago, after we threw some chicken breasts to feed the hungry fox pups. Since the mother was still nowhere to be found and the local residents haven’t been seeing her at all, I decided to get involved and try to save the pups. I called the Division of Wildlife and they promised that they would check up on the foxes, which they never did. I started visiting the pups every day, to feed them and to make sure that they were OK. Yesterday, right after I stepped out of the car, a local resident stopped by and told me that one of the three pups was hit by a car and died :( I really hoped to somehow save the remaining two, but I didn’t know what to do and whom to call to save the foxes. As a last resort, I called the “Wild Animal Sanctuary”, who referred me to two private wildlife rehabilitation specialists/volunteers. A heavy rain started to pour in the area yesterday and I called the rehab volunteers and left voicemails while driving home.

Both called me back today and one of them was a very kind lady, who decided to help me today. We met at the site at 7 PM and she had all of her equipment with her to trap the fox pups and relocate them. When we got close to the den, there was a bad sign – a chicken leg was laying right outside the den, untouched – a clear indication that the foxes were not there anymore. We walked around the area multiple times and checked pipes around and did not find the foxes. Apparently the rain poured so heavy in this area that many of the roads were flooded and the rivers were full. I don’t know what happened to the fox pups, but they either drowned or abandoned their den. I honestly don’t think that they abandoned the den, because they were too young, inexperienced and attached to their birthplace. They were still breastfeeding and normally would not leave until they got older and had the necessary skills to survive in the wild. The rehab volunteer was also frustrated. Apparently she had to put down a fox pup today, after it was deliberately poisoned by a local resident, so she was hoping she could save a couple to make it up for the day. Why are people so cruel to animals?

It is very unfortunate that I did not call the volunteers earlier. I was trying to be optimistic, thinking that the mother would return… Now I wish I did that earlier and I could have saved these poor babies.

I will check the site again tomorrow and I’m hoping that the kits are alive and will return to their den.

I snapped the below picture about two weeks ago: