Red foxes are known for their keen sense of smell and habit of crouching before leaping onto their prey. In the past week, red foxes named Sadie and Seth have used those skills to smell the dirt and logs in their new habitat and jump onto the kibble that zoo staff tosses them.
Their living situation was much different a year ago.
Sadie and Seth were among hundreds of animals living on an Ohio fur farm that reeked of urine and feces. Many animals lived in wire cages with unstable footing and were malnourished. Some froze to death; dozens were euthanized due to severe injuries and illness, according to wildlife officials who rescued about 300 animals from the farm in January after the owner died.
Sadie and Seth were two of the lucky ones. After almost a year of living with wildlife rehabilitators, they were introduced to their new home last week at ZooTampa at Lowry Park.
“They’re adorable,” Molly Lippincott, senior curator of Florida and marine life at the zoo, told The Washington Post. “I mean, there’s no other way to put it.”
Lippincott saw a post on an Association of Zoos and Aquariums discussion board in the spring that said animals rescued from the Rome, Ohio, fur farm needed homes. Because many of the animals were bred in captivity, they weren’t accustomed to the wild and needed zoos and wildlife organizations to take them in.
Lippincott, who said she has wanted to help animals since she visited SeaWorld as a child, said ZooTampa at Lowry Park rescues injured animals like manatees, Florida panthers and black bears. She wanted to help red foxes, too. The zoo had not cared for a fox in nearly two decades, Lippincott said.
“We want to give them the best life possible,” she said.
Raccoons, skunks, opossums, coyotes and other foxes from the fur farm have also found new homes at sanctuaries and zoos. Adam Parascandola, vice president of the rescue team at the nonprofit Humane World for Animals, said some of the animals will carry trauma and a fear of humans for the rest of their lives because of their treatment on the fur farm, which is closed.
“We see a lot of bad stuff,” Parascandola said. “But this was pretty extraordinarily horrific.”
Sadie and Seth, who were uninjured, arrived at the zoo in November, when they began a six-week quarantine in a veterinary hospital to ensure they were healthy. Their ages are unknown.
Last week, Sadie and Seth were released into their enclosure — near the zoo’s water ride. They’re staying in a black bear’s habitat — which has palm plants and platforms to jump on — while the bear, Campbell, sleeps indoors for most of the winter.
Sadie and Seth are undergoing crate and target training. Sadie, who has a charcoal-colored coat and weighs about 12 pounds, has appeared to settle in. She approaches zoo employees and seems eager to eat apples and peppers from the tongs they use to feed her.
Seth, who has a red coat and weighs about 14 pounds, is shy around humans — a trait Lippincott said is typical of foxes. On Monday, he slept inside a log, which Lippincott said is a sign that he’s becoming more comfortable at the zoo.
Sadie and Seth plan to move one more time — to a habitat the zoo is building for them that will be finished next year.
“We’ll see where it goes,” Lippincott said. “But I only see wonderful, positive things coming.”
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