McCoy (left) and Raven are the newest residents at the B.C. Wildlife Park in Kamloops (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

RED FOXES

Meet McCoy and Raven, the newest residents of the B.C. Wildlife Park

Jun 15, 2020 | 2:52 PM

KAMLOOPS — Raven and McCoy are slowly settling into their new home at the B.C. Wildlife Park.

The red foxes, who have unique marble colouring, are experiencing the first day in their new enclosure.

“They’re checking out everything,” said their caretaker Melany Leontowich. “They’ve never been in here before. These are all new smells. We used to have our potbelly pigs in this enclosure before, so lots of things that they haven’t smelled before. So they’re going to check every nook and cranny out. They’re going to sniff all the corners. They’re going to check all the fences and see their new neighbours.”

Foxes are curious by nature, and Raven and McCoy are no different. Both have had their fair share of roaming on day one. The caretakers had to make sure there were no escape routes before putting the pair in the enclosure.

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“Foxes are really good jumpers, really good diggers. These guys have already shown lots of digging behaviours where they were previously,” said Leontowich. “So we do have a three-foot dig barrier that had to get added to this enclosure. We’ve also added some hotwire electric fencing.”

The pair of red foxes came from Quebec, where they were seized from a zoo by the SPCA (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

The park has been caring for Raven and McCoy since December, shortly after they were seized by the SPCA from a zoo in Quebec that was subsequently forced to shut down.

“CAZA, the Canadian Association of Accredited Zoos and Aquariums, they contacted us to see if we were able to take any of these animals,” noted the wildlife park’s animal care manager Tracy Reynolds. “They had a big list of animals that were needing homes, and we felt this was a species we could help out with.”

The park says it’s lucky to have these foxes, a species it’s been eyeing for a while now.

“Foxes are definitely on the list for us,” said Reynolds. “We had a few species that we were hoping to get back here at the park, and the red fox was one of them. When we saw these ones available, even though they’re not quite the red colouration you’re used to, we felt they needed a home and we thought we could step up and give them a home.”