Patient Number 2013-00245  Urocyon Cinereoargenteus
Gray Fox Kit

At the end of April case number 2013-00245 arrived in the form of a 463g - just a bit over a pound - gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). The young kit had been found along the side of a road in Pemberton three days earlier, cold and wet. His mother had probably dropped him trying to re-locate him after a storm.

If you have read this publication before, you know that with fox kits comes cuteness that is not to be believed. They have a vocalization that sounds like a cross between a puppy and a crow called "gekkering." It is

a guttural chattering with occasional yelps and howls, like an ack-ack-ack-ackawoooo -ack-ack-ack. They are a little ball of fluff with big blue-gray eyes. And, oh yeah, they hate us! At least temporarily they hate us. If they are not raised with other foxes, their need for being a social creature over takes their need to be aggressive. They are far too easily social- ized to people.

So, with that in mind, we went on a statewide search for another gray fox kit in a rehabilita- tion facility. Thankfully, one was located quickly and on May 2nd he was transferred to his new temporary home to be raised and released with other gray foxes and most important, to remain wild. 

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