{"id":731274,"date":"2026-06-28T16:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T16:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/731274\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T16:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T16:11:21","slug":"urban-sprawl-is-flooding-wildlife-rehab-center-with-eagles-foxes-and-coyotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/731274\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban Sprawl Is Flooding Wildlife Rehab Center With Eagles, Foxes and Coyotes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A wildlife rescue hospital on the fringe of the Denver metro area\u2019s urban sprawl is accustomed to taking on tough cases. A young red fox with a severely broken leg is among the latest.<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance\u2019s critter hospital in Sedalia, Colorado, has taken in 627 patients so far this year, founder and executive director Emily Davenport told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n

This spring, the center treated a bald eagle suffering from lead poisoning<\/a>, after eating a carcass with bullet fragments in it.<\/p>\n

June and July are typically the busiest time of year, with roughly 200 animals per month arriving. Roughly one-third have suffered injuries from vehicle collisions or some other\u00a0sort of physical trauma, she said.<\/p>\n

The young fox (or kit) was likely born in April and was brought in June 6, Davenport said. The kit is believed to have been struck by a vehicle at a remote county road intersection near the small prairie town of Elbert, Colorado. \u00a0<\/p>\n

At the hospital, he joined a coyote pup recovering from head trauma after being hit by a vehicle, a red-tailed hawk that suffered bone fractures in a vehicle strike, and many others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had 110 different species in this year. That\u2019s a 26% increase in the number of species over last year,\u201d Davenport said.<\/p>\n

\"AmidAmid Denver’s urban sprawl, Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance is rescuing a fast-growing number of injured animals, like this beaver with an open wound. (Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance)\"AmidAmid Denver’s urban sprawl, Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance is rescuing a fast-growing number of injured animals. (Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance)Arrow leftArrow rightLittle Fella, Big Surgery<\/p>\n

Davenport runs the center with the philosophy of returning wildlife to the wild whenever possible. She likes to give every animal a chance, even against long odds.<\/p>\n

The fox kit was such a case. He had severe bone fractures in his right front leg.<\/p>\n

An orthopedic surgeon was brought in to realign the bones and install a metal plate to keep them in place. The center raided enough money through donations to pay for the surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surgery went well and there were no issues. He was standing on the leg the day after the surgery,\u201d Davenport said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take on some of the more difficult cases, where other shelters might euthanize (the injured animals,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

But she sees it as a matter of doing right by wildlife.<\/p>\n

Some might argue for \u201cnature taking its course\u201d with injured animals, and Davenport understands that, when the circumstances are natural.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big believer that it\u2019s not nature taking its course if an animal is hit by a car or bird flies into a window. That\u2019s human-caused,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"AmidAmid Denver’s urban sprawl, Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance is rescuing a fast-growing number of injured animals. \u201cAs the human environment expands, we\u2019re seeing more and more conflict with wildlife,\u201d founder Emily Davenport says. (Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance)\"AmidAmid Denver’s urban sprawl, Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance is rescuing a fast-growing number of injured animals. (Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance)Arrow leftArrow right\u2018A Pretty Good Plan\u2019<\/p>\n

The plan is to keep the little fox at the center until late August or early September, helping it to learn how to hunt and then turn it back loose in the wild, Davenport said.<\/p>\n

Biologist Robert Crabtree told Cowboy State Daily he thinks the fox has good chances of survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt it\u2019s a pretty good plan. The fox should be fine, as long as it\u2019s learned to hunt on its own,\u201d said Crabtree, the founder, chief scientist and president of the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center\u00a0in Bozeman, Montana.<\/p>\n

Canines such as wolves are on the \u201csocial end of the spectrum\u201d and are raised into supportive packs, he said.<\/p>\n

Foxes are on the \u201cmore solitary end of the canine spectrum, he said.<\/p>\n

However, they typically mate for life and \u201cdad is involved\u201d in helping to raise the kits, he said.<\/p>\n

Kits typically disperse on their own in September, Crabtree said.<\/p>\n

There might be one, usually a female, that still hangs around with the parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is often a helper, that helps mom at the fox den,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Retired biologist Franz Camenzind of Jackson\u00a0also gave the fox kit good chances of returning to the wild on his own.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s physically all good, it should have a good chance, said Camenzind, who studied coyote behavior in and around the National Elk Refuge near Jackson.<\/p>\n

Foxes also adapt fairly well to human development, so long as they can find natural food sources, such as mice, and stay out of trouble, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a group that\u2019s trying to heal an animal like a fox and put it back into the wild, I would certainly encourage it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Davenport said foxes play a vital role in the ecosystem and can be beneficial to humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only are they cute to boot, they serve a really important ecosystem function with pest control,\u201d by devouring mice and voles, she said.<\/p>\n

\"AmidAmid Denver’s urban sprawl, Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance is rescuing a fast-growing number of injured animals. \u201cAs the human environment expands, we\u2019re seeing more and more conflict with wildlife,\u201d founder Emily Davenport says. (Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance)\"AA kit, or young red fox, recovers after surgery for a broken leg at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance\u2019s wildlife hospital in Sedalia, Colorado. (Emily Davenport)\"AnAn orthopedic surgeon prepares to operate on a red fox kit at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance\u2019s wildlife hospital in Sedalia, Colorado. (Emily Davenport)\"AA kit, or young red fox, recovers after surgery for a broken leg at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance\u2019s wildlife hospital in Sedalia, Colorado. (Emily Davenport)\"AA kit, or young red fox, recovers after surgery for a broken leg at the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance\u2019s wildlife hospital in Sedalia, Colorado. (Emily Davenport)Arrow leftArrow rightUrban Sprawl<\/p>\n

Davenport doesn\u2019t expect business at the wildlife hospital to slow\u00a0down anytime soon.<\/p>\n

The Denver Metro area is growing, with no end in sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the human environment expands, we\u2019re seeing more and more conflict with wildlife,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

There are \u201clots of massive housing developments bringing changes that animals can\u2019t adapt to quickly,” she said.<\/p>\n

Sedalia is nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountain front and has so far escaped the worst of it, and Davenport hopes it stays that way.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re in this amazing little rural pocket surrounded by the Denver metro area,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wildlife rescue hospital on the fringe of the Denver metro area\u2019s urban sprawl is accustomed to taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-731274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}