Ember, the friendliest fox, has a permanently deformed leg as a result of a number of severe breaks which healed very badly in the wild before capture leaving her with significantly impaired mobility and vulnerability. She is very social with the other patients and check on them, talks to them the way parents do to cubs and brings food and sits with the cubs too. She's like a little welfare fox for the others, its so sweet to observe and calms some of the more, rare, feisty patients.
She's very trusting and while I don'y interact with the foxes other than to change bedding and put food and water in, she insists on attention despite being a totally normal fox with no neurological issues. Her physical disability prevent her from being wild, and she bizarrely loves being pampered. Essentially she behaves with me the way they behave among their own kind so it really is a privilege that she chose to trust me enough even though I deliberately made zero effort to interact with her,
Ember's story
Stories, posts and reels of Ember can be found on the instagram page. Since she has a permanent disabled leg, and limps/toe taps it at all times, anyone seeing her would present the very high risk of her members of the public trying to recapture her constantly, since there are two local organisations who I know to euthanise foxes with such injuries due to their refusal to operate on an injury such as this, if recaptured in this area Ember would highly likely be killed.
it turns out that cause of that was... she had been shot by someone. She still has the round in her knee, two vets have suggested it’s less invasive to leave it in there although she is always being monitored and if it becomes a problem I will be readdressing it and pushing for surgical intervention.
She is unable to jump higher than about 2 feet at most, leaving her hunting skills limited. On one occasion so far she has gnawed at her leg opening a wound that needed minor attention but in the wild would've got infected and caused her decline without medical treatment. For her future, I will not risk that. Instead she gets to live out a happy, safe life.
Indications:
Tibia and fibula on rear left leg severely deformed and fused from previous bad break, healed badly before capture.
Shot round embedded in femur/knee area.
Treatment:
Leg is healthy and healed (albeit deformed)
Pain management and monitoring of the leg and behaviour to determine if amputation required at a later date.
Monitor any onset of muscle atrophy.
Instagram Post Links:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CSwh-QkK5EO/
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All of the residents can be sponsored, you can go to the sponsor page to find out more. Sponsoring a fox helps towards their general daily care. Some foxes need more than others depending on their disability, injury, post-surgery requirements or condition. To find out more, go here.