I’ve only recently heard of Save A Fox. One of my recent favorite YouTube channels is a guy in FL who runs a crocodilian-centric sanctuary, but they have a wide variety of other animals too, including foxes from Save A Fox. He talks about the organization frequently and with great respect.
He took in four? ‘regular’ foxes that were from a shut down fur farm, and he also has two fennec foxes that had been part of the pet trade.
I’m sorry her life ended so tragically. Rescue and sanctuary workers are so at risk for burnout and mental trauma. For the few really squirrelly rescue folk out there (and they do exist for sure - I know some horse ‘rescue’ folk I wouldn’t give a toy horse to) there are many many more who do a huge, thankless task. Why they get shat on by the world I do not understand. Fear of the Other, I suppose. That much caring might be scary if one is a self centered and basically heartless person.
They weren’t being treated as pets. That was part of the difficulty in saving them. After you’ve exhausted the finite number of zoos and nature centers that can take an extra fox, you’re relying on volunteers to give up part of their property, time and money to have an enclosure to keep an animal safe while that animal will remain afraid of you and non-interactive for probably its entire life. You’re not taking in a stray dog or cat, you’re housing and feeding a wild animal that can’t survive on its own. Not a ton of people capable of that in time, property space, legality or just what they want to be doing for the next however many years. I’m sure if the deal was “Have a pet fox! Neat!” they’d all be gone in an hour.
My heart goes out to Ethan. That poor man. I have watched the channel for years and was shocked and saddened when I saw that video yesterday.
I made the mistake of reading the YouTube comments for it. I read one where the person thought Ethan was faking it and hinted he killed her! I was very tempted to reply that you have to have a negative social IQ to come away with that take from watching that video!
Anyone with more than 2 brain cells can tell Ethan is completely distraught and sincere.
Mikayla was a wonderful person and those foxes are beautiful, sweet creatures, worth saving.
I gave 3k to the fur farm rescue effort and it is being used to build an enclosure that will house foxes that are waiting for adopters. In other words, the last of the fur farm rescues.
I can’t imagine what an absolute heartless asshole you have to be, to be a fur farmer! Seeing 3 to 5 foxes locked in those tiny cages from birth is heartbreaking. Freeing them and caring for them is the work of angels and I say that poetically, as an atheist.
In the comments under the linked video, someone quoted Mike Tyson:
Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.
I think that’s pretty apt - of course, punching someone in the face is wrong, and two wrongs don’t make a right, but in other times, before keyboard warriors could bravely insult anyone they like from the safety of their screen and keyboard, they simply wouldn’t have done the first wrong (the insult) for fear of the second wrong (a punch in the face)