Fox burned in California wildfire returns to ‘where he belongs.’ See him rush home

In the wake of a California wildfire, a badly injured fox wandered through a neighborhood below the scorched foothills.

Residents noticed the distressed gray fox roaming the Robinson Ranch neighborhood and called a local animal shelter, the San Diego Humane Society said in a Monday, March 3, Facebook post.

From there, the nonprofit said, the badly burned fox spent five months recovering at the Ramona Wildlife Center.

Now, the fox has been released “back where he belongs in the wild,” the nonprofit said.

“This animal was left defenseless with life-threatening wounds from the Airport Fire,” Alexis Wohl, the nonprofit’s director of veterinary medicine, said in a news release. “His prognosis was guarded for a long time, but in the end, he ultimately overcame his injuries so he could return home.”

The nonprofit said the California Department of Fish and Wildlife brought the injured fox to its center on Sept 30, nearly a month after the onset of the Airport Fire, which started in Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon and quickly grew into Riverside County, scorching 23,526 acres.

At the time, “he was in pain with second and third-degree burns across all paw pads resulting in severe tissue trauma,” the nonprofit said

The injured fox, who “had lost several digits, nails and paw pads,” received daily care and spent months at the center healing, according to the nonprofit.

During his recovery, the veterinary team ensured he had the “appropriate pain therapy and used novel treatments to allow his wounds to heal,” the nonprofit said.

A local veterinarian also gave the fox florescent light therapy on multiple occasions, according to the nonprofit.

“The medical and rehabilitation teams collaborated closely, evaluating his health and behavior to determine if he could adapt and thrive in the wild despite his permanent injuries,” the nonprofit said.

Eventually, he healed enough to be transferred from an indoor hospital to an outdoor enclosure, the nonprofit said.

“Regaining his ability to climb and jump was essential for us to determine his readiness to thrive in the wild,” Autumn Nelson, the nonprofit’s wildlife operations manager, said in the release.

Nelson said the team used remote trail cameras to monitor his progress, as he “grew more agile each day.”

Over time, he was “skillfully climbing and jumping through his habitat,” the nonprofit said. “That was the moment we knew: he was ready to return home.”

Nonprofit staff stood around the fox’s cage in Orange County not far from where he was found on Sunday, March 2, awaiting his release, a video shared by the nonprofit shows.

A worker opens the fox’s cage.

Then, mere seconds pass before he leaps out and runs toward the foothills he once called home.

Daniella Segura

McClatchy DC

Daniella Segura is a national real-time reporter with McClatchy. Previously, she’s worked as a multimedia journalist for weekly and daily newspapers in the Los Angeles area. Her work has been recognized by the California News Publishers Association. She is also an alumnus of the University of Southern California and UC Berkeley.