Raising a baby fox

Every spring people find red fox cubs (Vulpes vulpes) at the edge of a wood, in the garden or by the roadside and immediately assume they are orphans. Raising a baby fox sounds like a lovely story, but in reality it is one of the most demanding tasks in wildlife care. In this article I explain when a fox cub really needs help, how to give it first aid and why it should be handed over to experts as soon as possible.

The most common mistake is “rescuing” cubs that have not been abandoned at all. Foxes have several dens and the mother often moves her cubs from place to place, so a cub may briefly find itself alone. Cubs around a month old normally come out in front of the den during the day to play and explore, and the parents are usually nearby – you just can't see them.

• Eyes open, cub lively and well fed – leave it alone, move away and check again the next day or two. Don't stand next to it, because the mother won't come while she can sense people.
• Eyes still closed – a cub this young should not be outside the den. Watch from a distance for an hour or two; if the mother does not return, it needs help.
• It is an emergency if the cub is injured, chilled, covered in flies or fly eggs, next to a road, or if the mother has been found dead, and also if several cubs wander about for hours, crying constantly.

If the cub is in a dangerous place, move it wearing gloves just far enough for it to be safe, close to where it was found.

If you are sure the fox cub is an orphan, don't touch it with bare hands. Put on thick gloves or pick it up with a towel and place it in a sturdy box or pet carrier with a towel on the bottom.

• Warmth first. Never feed or give water to a chilled cub – warm it up first. Put a bottle of warm (not hot) water under the towel so that the cub can move away if it gets too hot.
• Quiet and darkness. Keep the box in a quiet room, away from children, dogs and cats. Don't stroke it and don't show it to the rest of the household.
• Write down exactly where you found it. Foxes are territorial and are released where they were found.
• Call a wildlife rescue centre or a vet straight away. A list of association and rescue centre contacts is available on our website.

In Croatia the fox is a legally protected wild animal (and also a game species) and may not be kept at home without a permit. Hand-rearing must be taken over by an authorised wildlife rescue centre.

Fox cubs are born blind and deaf, and their eyes open at around two weeks. Until about four weeks of age they depend entirely on their mother's milk, and between the fifth and eighth week they gradually move on to solid food.

• Never cow's milk – it causes diarrhoea and dehydration, which can be fatal for a cub.
• Rescue centres use puppy milk replacer. Agree the exact type and amount with a vet or the rescue centre.
• From about the fifth week, mushy meat-based food is introduced, and later whole prey such as day-old chicks, quail or pieces of rabbit, along with insects and a little fruit.

All of this is done at the rescue centre. At home the cub needs nothing more than warmth and quiet – at most the odd feed following expert instructions until it is collected.

If the rescue centre asks you to feed the cub until they come to collect it, follow these rules:

• The cub must be warmed up before feeding.
• Feed it while it is lying on its tummy or upright, never on its back – the milk could end up in its lungs.
• Give the milk slowly, drop by drop, with a needleless syringe or a puppy feeding bottle. Never force anything.
• Very young fox cubs get small feeds roughly every four hours during the day.
• After each feed, gently massage the tummy and the area around the tail with damp cotton wool so that it urinates and defecates – this is normally the mother's job.

While doing so, don't talk to it, stroke it or play with it. Every unnecessary contact does it more harm than good.

Rescue centres have a rule: a tame fox is a dead fox. A cub that associates people with food loses its natural fear. After release it approaches houses, gardens and henhouses, begs for food, bites out of fear or impatience and very quickly becomes a “problem fox” that is killed by cars, dogs or people.

That is why experts raise fox cubs with minimal contact and, as soon as possible, put them together with other cubs of a similar age in groups of four or five. From other foxes they learn to play, fight, dig and hunt, and they are fed without seeing a human. A single cub growing up with people, without other fox cubs, has almost no chance of a normal life in the wild. That is exactly why it should not be kept at home even a few days longer than necessary.

Fox cubs spend about five to six months at a rescue centre. They are released in late summer or early autumn, when they would also start becoming independent in the wild.

• Release is gradual: the group first stays in an enclosure at the release site, then the door is left open and food is put out for a while until the foxes start hunting for themselves.
• They are released at dusk, in a quiet place with good cover, far from roads and poultry, preferably in the area where they were found.
• Before release, a vet checks the young foxes' health, weight and behaviour.

If a cub has only been with people briefly and is healthy, the rescue centre sometimes returns it to the den within a day or two – that is always the best solution.

The fox is the main carrier of rabies in Europe. Thanks to many years of oral vaccination of foxes, rabies is very rare in Croatia today, but you can never be too careful, because the disease is fatal in humans.

• Only handle cubs and adult foxes wearing thick gloves.
• If a fox bites or scratches you, immediately wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water and see a doctor straight away. Tell them you were bitten by a wild animal.
• Foxes can transmit mange, fungal skin infections, intestinal parasites (including tapeworms) and leptospirosis. Wash your hands thoroughly after every contact, and wash or throw away the towels and the box.
• Keep dogs and cats away from the cub.

Be especially careful with an adult fox that behaves unusually tamely, staggers or seems confused. Do not approach such an animal – inform a vet instead.

I've learned from experience that the hardest thing is resisting the urge to keep the cub and raise it yourself. But the best help for a baby fox is to leave it alone if it isn't an orphan, and if it is – to warm it up, keep it somewhere quiet and hand it over to a rescue centre as soon as possible. Only a fox that grows up with other foxes and with a natural fear of people can live a long, free life where it belongs.