Baby Fox Is Rescued After Following A Family Out In Nature, Thinking That A Dog Was Her Mom

The dehydrated baby fox from Tempe, Arizona was thought to be a dog at first

Elana

• Published in Animal Stories
• June 13, 2020

The Caballero family from Tempe, Arizona regularly walks their dog Olive but recently something unexpected and adorable happened. They grabbed the attention of a nearby critter, an adorable baby animal they originally thought was a puppy. The baby animal was a fox, often referred to as a kit, and the kit thought that Olive was also a fox! Adorable confusion on both sides? Apparently!

That wasn't all there was to the evening, though because the precious kit was not in tip-top shape and it's real mama could simply not be found. So the Caballeros found a way to safely rescue it and get it into the right hands, but not before grabbing some seriously adorable pictures of a night they'll never forget.

The gray-coated kit could fit in the palm of your hand, that's how small she was.

Siblings Dylan and Preston, along with their grandma Rosalyn went on to learn they came to the rescue of a 6-week-old fox when it followed them home and began desperately drinking water from their sprinkler system.

Preston Caballero, one of the children of the family told 12news:

"It was really small and it was a gray fox, so kind of gray and it was like this big, the top of it was gray."

Foxes are pack animals and this baby fox was clearly dehydrated and away from her mom.

The family contacted Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center for help. Rosalyn told 12news:

"We got a container and went back to investigate the area. There was no mom, no other foxes around, so we captured it without touching it."

The kids endearingly called her Foxy and found a box to help safely catch her.

Foxes have been spotted quite a bit in the Tempe community but not dehydrated and alone like Foxy was.

Thanks to the Caballero family, Foxy's outlook is great.

Khymberly Lewus with SWCC said: "We rescued the fox and were able to syringe feed it for a few days, but now it understands how to eat out of a dish. We're hoping to bond this fox to some of the other kits we've received this summer and release them back into the wild."

Southwest Wildlife has also organized a fundraiser for Foxy and other rescued animals.

Calling it a virtual baby shower, the event is "dedicated to celebrating the lives of the injured, orphaned, or abandoned wildlife that are admitted to the conservation center to be taken care of, increasing their chances of survival."

People can donate items from the wishlist or even monetary funds and it all goes to a great cause.

Followers on social media gushed over Foxy and her rescue story.

We can only imagine how precious it was for the Caballero family to see Foxy up close and personal!

12news shared this adorable video recap, and who doesn't love to see more of Foxy the baby fox in a box?

Elana