For nearly two weeks, Corral de Tierra resident Claire Pendleton lost sleep as she saw a wild gray fox stumble around her Central California town with a corrugated pipe stuck around its neck. She posted a call for help on Facebook, and neighbors joined her in setting out traps, catching foxes every night but releasing them in the morning when it turned out it wasn’t the injured animal.
Then early Sunday morning, luck struck when she saw the hurt fox had finally been caught.
“I woke my husband up and said, ‘Jerry, we have the right fox!'” Pendleton told SFGATE. “I’m just really happy that we caught him.”
The fox was then transferred on Monday to SPCA Monterey County, where it is now recovering from deep wounds around its neck caused by the pipe, according to Beth Brookhouser, a spokesperson for the SPCA.
A gray fox with a pipe around its neck was rescued by residents from Corral de Tierra, Calif., who helped trap the injured creature. The fox is currently recovering at SPCA Monterey County in Salinas, Calif. (Courtesy of SPCA Monterey County)
“We don’t know how this little fox got himself stuck, but we are so thankful to caring neighbors like Clarie who kept an eye on him, worked so diligently to trap him, and brought him to us,” Brookhouser told SFGATE. “It was hard to see his wounds under the pipe, but we could immediately tell there was an infection.”
Pendleton first noticed the struggling fox on her security cameras on Jan. 11 while she was out of town in Tennessee. The image of the fox’s pipe-ensnarled neck troubled her, so she emailed neighbors and reached out to a local Facebook group for help. She also called the SPCA to alert the agency, which later gave Pendleton’s neighbor a trap.
“Our neighbors had to keep freeing the foxes while we were out and baiting the traps,” Pendleton said. “I oversaw through my Ring camera.”
A gray fox with a pipe around its neck was rescued by residents from Corral de Tierra, Calif., who helped trap the injured creature. The fox is currently recovering at SPCA Monterey County in Salinas, Calif. (Courtesy of SPCA Monterey County)
Pendleton eventually returned home and borrowed a fox trap from someone in her Facebook group. Over the period of a week, she said that she caught five different foxes but not the right one. Then one evening, her husband decided to lure the fox with a piece of bread soaked in maple syrup. Early Sunday morning, the right fox wandered into the trap, which gave Pendleton a “giant sigh of relief” due to the timing. She added that other foxes in the neighborhood continued to enter her yard, even after the fox was trapped.
Brookhouser said the fox is currently alert, eats on his own and growls when approached, which is “exactly what we want to see.” Each year, the SPCA Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center takes in more than 2,800 injured or orphaned wild animals, according to Brookhouser. She said that wild animals tend to mask injuries, but if captured, it’s often when they’re “in critical condition.”
“We are incredibly thankful to Claire and all the neighbors who were so compassionate and caring to this fox,” Brookhouser said. “… They are heroes.”
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This article originally published at ‘They are heroes’: Neighbors save fox found struggling with pipe around its neck.