A man saw some puppies stuck in a storm drain and didn’t know what to do, so he called the fire department for help.
The firefighters, who are used to handling such calls, quickly arrived on the scene. Within minutes, the Colorado Springs Fire Department crew rescued what they initially thought were eight black puppies.
To their surprise, these ‘puppies’ turned out to be baby red foxes!
In an interview, Fire Captain Brian Vaughan explained that the firefighters initially thought they had rescued newborn black Labrador Retriever puppies and were worried someone had abandoned them.
They searched for the mother dog but couldn’t find her. Without a mama dog in sight, they took the babies straight to the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region.
It was only when they arrived at the shelter that they discovered the ‘puppies’ were not puppies after all.
Captain Vaughan shared that one of the vets at the shelter identified them as foxes, not Labradors. The firefighter was shocked by the news.
The eight animals were indeed baby foxes with dark red fur. The vet explained that foxes are common in the area near the Rocky Mountains where the babies were found. The firefighters never suspected the ‘puppies’ could be anything else.
This wasn’t really a surprise to the Wildlife Manager for the Colorado Parks and Wildlife District. He told CBS News that many animals give birth in small dens during this time of year, often in places where people might find them:
“This time of year there are a lot of animals that are starting to have their young, and they have them in small dens that are places that we can encounter.”
After discovering the animals were baby foxes, the officials returned them to the storm drain, hoping their mother would come back for them.
Unfortunately, the mother did not return, so the foxes were taken to The Animal Clinic of Woodland Park in Colorado for rehabilitation.
The clinic shared on Facebook that their rehabber, Terri, was working hard to care for the foxes, feeding them for hours:
“So yes, a litter of eight red fox kits was found in Colorado Springs and brought up to our great rehabber. Terri is losing sleep feeding them for hours, but so far, so good.”
Eventually, the baby foxes grew big enough to fend for themselves and were released back into the wild.
Isn’t it fascinating? Thankfully, these rescuers didn’t give up on the poor baby foxes, even though they weren’t puppies. Every animal deserves a chance, and it’s heartening to see the rescuers in this story share that belief!
Check out the video below to see the full rescue mission. Would you have guessed these tiny creatures were foxes and not puppies?