Abandoned Fox Gets Rescued And Beats Medical Odds, Now Enjoys Stimulating Activities

Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor

Apr 6, 2022 6:00 PM EDT

Foxes are often depicted as sneaky, cunning tricksters that spend their mischievous days dreaming of the next thing to swipe. Cartoonish comparisons aside, there's a lot to love about foxes. Their cute faces, fluffy coats, and playful antics are adorable, but sometimes there's a fox that stands out from the skulk.

In 2018, a fox pup was found abandoned and taken to the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center in Boyce, Virginia. Veterinarians determined that the pup suffered from a mild case of congenital hydrocephalus, an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the ventricles of the brain. Hydrocephalus is one of the more common congenital malformations in the nervous systems of animals in the Canidae family, which includes dogs.

Story written by Alex Lemieux.

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via Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

According to Maymont Foundation's Senior Manager of Zoology Joe Neel, the malformation "is 99.9 percent of the time fatal." Yet, the young red fox pulled through. Because the fox overcame so much, he's now named Finnley, Celtic for "fair-haired courageous one" or "blond warrior or champion."
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via Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

Although he overcame his daunting odds, Finnley can't be reintroduced into the wild. He is deemed "non-releasable" since he habituated to humans in his early-life medical care.
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via Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

Finnley lived in rehabilitation centers and medical buildings for his first few years. Even though a fox is born to live and thrive in the wild, a reintroduction to normalcy caused some initial discomfort.
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via Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

"At the rehab center, he was staying in an enclosure with a roof," Neel said. "When he came here [Maymont] we did a slow introduction into his habitat, but if you can imagine that there's a roof over you all your life and then someone takes you out in the wide open, it'll blow your mind away. So, that, I think, was a little weird for him at first."
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via Maymont Foundation

Neel explained that Finnley is still a wild fox at heart despite his habituation to humans. "He still behaves very similarly to how a fox behaves; the only difference is that he doesn't see humans as a major threat."
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via Maymont Foundation

He added: "When he first came here, it's not something that he just became desensitized to….he still had a bit of flight, initially." As Finnley became familiar and playful with his caretakers at Maymont, he also learned to enjoy the number of "enrichment" activities afforded to him, including those that target the visual, olfactory, auditory, and tactile dimensions.
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via Maymont Foundation

"We want to stimulate them mentally…novel foods, novel items," Neel described. For example, food puzzles. "The basic premise is that we allow the animals to make decisions," he said. "If they ignore it, it's considered successful because they've chosen to ignore it. If they play with it, if they interact with it, it's still a success because they decided to play with it."
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via Maymont Foundation
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via Maymont Foundation

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