Gray Fox Entangled in Soccer Netting
WildCare admits a surprising number of animals entangled in soccer netting.
Soccer goal netting is thick and durable, and it's always hung at either end of a wide-open grassy field.
If you've never walked a soccer pitch at dawn or dusk, you may not realize how much wildlife passes across, around, and over a playing field when we humans aren't using it.
Deer nibble the manicured grass, and owls, foxes, raccoons and other predators come for the gophers, voles, songbirds and other small animals attracted by well-watered grass.
This young fox undoubtedly came to the field to investigate a potential meal, but then maybe something startled her, and she accidentally jumped into the soccer net. Once she felt her feet push through the netting, she probably panicked, spinning around and tightening the netting around her limbs. Before long, she was hopelessly entangled.
See her in VIDEO below!
If you find an animal entangled in ANYTHING, please do not simply untangle the animal and release him.
Constriction injuries often originally look like nothing on the outside, and they can take 7-14 days to declare themselves. This is because the tissue and muscle underneath the constriction was deprived of blood flow for a period of time.
If the injury is bad enough, it will eventually necrose through to the top visible layer of skin, becoming a serious open wound. You don't want the animal to be out in the wild when that happens!
Please do what the Marin Humane officer did with this fox, and cut a large swath of the material around the entangled animal, and bring the animal to the Wildlife Hospital with the offending material still wrapped around him.
In the photo above, you can see several Gopher Snakes entangled in the same garden netting. They were brought to WildCare all together with the netting still attached.
We put entangled animals on a series of medications designed to improve blood flow, in addition to medications for pain. Our team will do the long-term monitoring these types of injuries require, and if a wound opens, we can treat it. If nothing further develops, the animals can be released.
Upon intake, our Medical Staff found this young fox's dehydration level to be severe, so they couldn’t administer standard anti-inflammatory medications right away without risking kidney damage. The first thing our team had to do was rehydrate the fox with several rounds of subcutaneous fluids. Imagine what a relief it was for this young fox to feel hydrated again and to receive pain medications and treatment for her injuries!
After over a week of rehydration, syringe feedings, appetite stimulants, and many varieties of enticing foods being offered and subsequently ignored, she finally started eating on her own.
23 days later, the young fox has made an excellent recovery! See WildCare's Veterinarian, Dr. Sorem, checking her healing and seeing excellent progress in the video below!
WildCare currently has two young Gray Fox patients in care. This handsome fellow came in a week ago looking very different -- he was very thin, dehydrated, and covered with fleas and ticks. He was too young to be separated from his fox family, and he had clearly been on his own and struggling to survive for quite a while.
After more than a week in care at WildCare, he has made an excellent recovery! In this photo, the young fox watches cautiously from a shelf as WildCare's Veterinarian examines his foster sibling, the young female fox you met above.
Both of these young foxes are receiving daily medications and wellness checks, but Dr. Sorem is very pleased with their progress.
They will remain in care until they are old enough, and healthy enough, to return to the wild.
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