Kimberly DeFisher runs Arctic Fox Daily Wildlife Rescue out in rural New York, where she’s made it her mission to care for foxes and other wild animals in need.
One evening, during her walk near her sanctuary, Kimberly was stopped in her tracks by a bone-chilling noise. It was loud and intense, and she couldn’t quite place it at first.
She strained to listen again, hoping it wasn’t what she feared. Who could be making such a desperate sound in the quiet of the night?
In an interview, Kimberly described it like this:
“It almost sounds similar to a woman screaming a lot of times. This is what people hear at night, and they’re like, ‘What is that? Is somebody getting murdered?’”
But the reality was far from what she initially thought.
Peering around, she finally spotted the little trickster behind all the disturbance: it was Tundra, an arctic fox who’d been under Kimberly’s care for a while.
The mysterious scream was just Tundra sounding an alarm bark, trying to send a message out to the rest of the foxes at the sanctuary.
For those unfamiliar, fox’s alarm barks can be confusing and downright eerie. Foxes have all sorts of vocalizations – from a low grunt to a sharp, almost shriek-like noise, they have a lot of ways to communicate, as Kimberly explained:
“It’s very funny, because an alarm bark is something that nobody would ever expect to hear coming from a fox. It’s exactly what it sounds like. It’s a type of bark. And a lot of people have no idea that a fox can bark like, you know, a dog.”
To show just how varied these calls can be, Kimberly made a video and shared it on Instagram. She explained that alarm barks, like the one Tundra made, are a way to signal to others that something unusual might be happening.
On that particular night, Tundra was upset because he saw another male fox who exited his enclosure and came close to Tundra’s.
That put Tundra on edge, prompting him to alert the other foxes about the ‘imposter’ in their yard.
And it’s not just foxes making the night a little eerie around Kimberly’s place. Her sanctuary also provides a safe haven for rescued wolfdogs.
With so many unique voices coming from her sanctuary, Kimberly’s property might seem a little scary to those who don’t know what’s really happening. She added:
“I could probably stick my phone out there and record a perfect howling. You hear all sorts of crazy noises coming from my house at night.”
But to Kimberly, it’s a natural melody of wildlife – one that she’s proud to listen to every single night.