Fox finds way to freedom, after Salthaven West rescue

It was touch and go for the first day or two whether a fox sick with mange would recover, after she was scooped up by a Salthaven West rescue team this past March.

She had been lying outside the Jack Hamilton arena, barely able to lift her head and unable to run when volunteers approached her.   

"We weren't sure she was going to survive at that point," recalled Megan Lawrence, director for the Regina-based wildlife rehabilitation centre.

Slowly, the fox began to recover to the point where she could eat and drink on her own, groom her matted fur and dead skin, and show a natural instinct to shy away from humans.

"Probably at the end of the first week, I felt confident saying, 'I think she's going to pull through and I think she's going to make it,'" said Lawrence.

On Thursday evening, Salthaven West volunteers took the fox back near where she was found, at the west edge of the city at the end of Regina's Dorothy Street.

People often ask Lawrence if she's sad or upset to see animals released after weeks or months caring for them, but she's always found the opposite to be true.  

"We're just excited to see them back where they belong, than in an enclosure, in captivity," she said.

On Thursday night, the rescue went as well as planned, with the fox bolting out of her cage, but pausing to look back at volunteers, recalled Lawrence.

"Sometimes we like to think that maybe they're kind of turning and saying, 'Thanks, see you later,' and off they go."