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Recent Rescue:

The employees weren't sure what it was, but some type of critter had definitely set up housekeeping in their Home Depot. They set a trap and were rewarded with a healthy, bouncing…adult ringtail. OK, they'd trapped her. Now what?!?

When they couldn't find anyone in their city to take her, one of the employees was elected to take the ringtail home and figure out the next step. He took her home and put her in his garage, still in the trap. He gave her food & water and set about finding someone who could help him help her.

His search led him to Southwest Wildlife. "Of course, we'll take her!" he was told when he called. He and his wife went into the garage to collect her, only to discover she had somehow managed to escape the trap and was loose in the garage. They reset the trap, but she was a very smart ringtail and not about to go in there again!

When they checked on her later, they found she had made a nest in a box of their Christmas ornaments. They taped up that box up real quick, punched some air holes in it, and set out on the 2½-hour drive to Southwest Wildlife.

When they arrived, we took a peek to see what we were dealing with. That ringtail looked so cute—and peaceful!—lying next to the treetop angel. We decided to net her by opening the box just enough to slide the net in. Our intention was to remove her from the box without damaging any of the ornaments and place her into a crate in the clinic for a medical exam.

Well, she clearly didn't care what our intentions were, good or otherwise. She shot out of that box as if she were spring-loaded!

We returned the box of ornaments to her rescuers—amazingly, not a single ornament had been broken!—and returned our attention to the ringtail. We'd had the foresight to attempt her transfer in a small room, just in case she escaped during the process. That didn't seem to help much, though. Scared ringtail can bounce around a room as if they had suction cups for feet! It took us a good half hour to catch her.

A medical exam showed the only negative affects of her ordeal were stress and fatigue. We were pretty certain, however, that she was not as stressed or tired as we were!

She will be given a few days to eat and recover. Then, thanks to the efforts of a couple who cared enough to make a five-hour drive to make sure she got the medical attention she might have needed, she will be released with another ringtail that was trapped by a homeowner.

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by Hillary Williams

The Kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) is smaller than any other North American fox. However, it has the largest ears! Kit foxes belong to the Canidae family, which also includes wolves, coyotes, red and gray foxes, and domestic dogs. The kit fox is the most specialized of the canids for living in the desert. They are found mainly in the Southwest, but also north to southeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho.

Kit foxes are highly adapted for living in the desert and semi-arid regions of western North America. They are nocturnal and have sensitive eyes, which allow them to hunt in the cool of the evening. Their large ears help to locate prey in the dark and also serve to dissipate body heat. Their fur-covered feet help them walk on hot surfaces.

The kit fox measures between 15 to 20 inches in length, with a 9-to 12-inch tail. They stand 11 to 12 inches high at the shoulder, and adults weigh 3 to 5 pounds. Their slender body is pale gray, tan, or sandy, with a slightly darker back. The throat, belly, and inner ears are a cream color. They have black or brown patches on each side of their muzzles (noses), and bushy tails with a dark tip. Their sight and hearing are keen, and they have an excellent sense of smell.

Kit foxes are found in desert scrub and desert grasslands, preferring sandy, sparsely-vegetated areas, often in creosote bush communities. The kit fox uses underground burrows, usually found in loose desert soil, to avoid extreme temperatures. The dens may have several entrances, with openings just large enough to admit a kit fox. Kit foxes move around frequently, abandoning dens and moving to new ones.

In most cases, kit foxes do not mate for life. A male and female may stay together for more than one year, but seldom for more than two years. Kit foxes begin breeding in late December through February, and 4 to 7 pups are born in March or April. The female remains in the den, nursing the pups, while the male provides food for the female. The pups disperse from their parents' den after 4 to 5 months.

Kit foxes are opportunistic omnivores. Cottontail rabbits and kangaroo rats are the main prey of kit foxes, but they will also eat grasshoppers, horned lizards, rodents, ground-nesting birds, grasses, and fruits. Water is sometimes scarce in the desert, so kit foxes can survive without free water by gaining what they need from the blood and moisture in their prey.

Kit foxes are prey to eagles, coyotes, and bobcats. Humans are also a significant threat to kit foxes, as habitat loss and poisoning are the main reason kit fox populations are declining. The San Joaquin kit fox, a subspecies of Vulpes macrotis, is currently endangered in California.

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by Kris Wheaton

The large raccoon enclosure in the Education area was the first enclosure I entered after I got my pre-rabies vaccinations. I remember my heart thumping wildly and just hoping that the raccoons couldn't hear it. The word among long-time volunteers was that raccoon cages were generally nasty—stinky, dirty, mucky, and loaded with poop. No one's favorite enclosures to clean. Still, I cleaned, fed, and escaped with a huge sense of accomplishment.

There was a second raccoon enclosure in Ed at that time. A smaller enclosure, but one with a very large presence inside: Sumo. (At this point, the theme music from the movie "Jaws" plays in the background.) That was my next hurtle: Sumo. His reputation preceded him. He had run many a volunteer out of his cage over the years, some requiring a bandage or two. Amazingly, Sumo and I did fine. However, volunteers on other days weren't so fortunate. I suppose that sort of sealed my fate—I got to clean raccoons. That was 3 years ago.

Recently, a decision was made to move Sumo into the large enclosure to see if more space would make him less aggressive. The move was successful. With more room to move around, Sumo was much easier to deal with.

From my vantage point, however, there was one problem. When Sumo moved in, he tossed all the other raccoons out of their favorite house. Every time I went into the enclosure, there was Sumo, smugly hanging out in the prime real estate, while 5 or 6 raccoons were crammed in the other house, looking miserable.

I finally decided the solution was to build a fabulous new raccoon house. After much planning, many trips to Home Depot, and countless sideways looks from my husband, family, and neighbors (one thought I was building a tree stand for hunting deer!), I constructed a raccoon house. It has a large inside (I imagined all the happy raccoons—without Sumo), opens easily for cleaning, has a platform on top to hang out on, and two ladders. It's 8 feet tall and almost 4 feet wide and was so huge, I had to assemble it inside the enclosure!

I had such visions of happily ever after. What followed, of course, was not part of my plan. The raccoons ignore it! All but Sumo. Occasionally I find him inside or up on top, but now he mostly hangs out in the little house with everyone else! The lesson: I've got a lot more to learn about raccoons. But, if they think I'm giving up, they've got another thing coming!

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