A gray fox severely injured in a wildfire last year was successfully released back into the wild on Monday after spending five months rehabbing at the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center, officials said.
The fox was rescued on Sept. 30 by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife after it was hurt in the Airport Fire, which burned more than 23,500 acres in Orange and Riverside counties last fall.
Officials said the fire caused second- and third-degree burns to the fox’s paw pads.
To save the animal, the gray fox was taken to the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona campus, one of the few animal rehabilitation centers in the state equipped to handle native predators, where he would receive daily, specialized attention from the staff.
According to Nina Thompson, a spokesperson for the organization, the gray fox needed treatment, a unique diet and pain therapy. Angela Hernandez-Cusick, a supervisor at the facility, said the animal had tissue damage extensive enough to require partial amputation of some of its toes.
To help the animal recover, it was essential that the bandages remained on the fox’s four paws, and the team needed to come up with new ways to keep the patient’s mind busy during his recovery, Hernandez-Cusick said. One technique staff used involved carving out small pumpkins and stashing the fox’s diet in them to create a natural puzzle he could play with and work on throughout the night.
While in recovery, the fox was transitioned to an outdoor enclosure to see how his skills in the wild had recovered since his initial injuries and if he would thrive if released, officials said.
“Early on, the team noticed that the fox was avoidant of humans and hiding when specialists entered the enclosure to feed or clean,” Hernandez-Cusick said. “It was also common for him to growl and attempt to escape from specialists when it was necessary to capture him for medical procedures.”
To maintain the animal’s wild nature, the center’s staff installed climbing structures and used trail cameras inside the outdoor enclosure to monitor the fox’s recovery, Thompson said. Within a few months, the gray fox was showing more agility and was navigating logs and platforms in his habitat.
“Regaining his ability to climb and jump was essential for us to determine his readiness to thrive in the wild,” said Autumn Nelson, operations manager at the Ramona facility.
After deeming him ready to return to the wild, officials returned to an area not far from where the fox was found injured and released the animal from a cage on Monday.
“This animal was left defenseless with life-threatening wounds from the Airport Fire,” said Alexis Wohl, a veterinarian at the center. “His prognosis was guarded for a long time, but in the end, he ultimately overcame his injuries so he could return home.”
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