The Beginning

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Blog by Amy Shutt | Photos by Amy Shutt and Julie Amador

 I started The Canid Project Red and Gray Fox Rehab and Rescue in May of 2017.  The idea had come to me about a year and a half earlier.  I have a small background in wildlife rehabilitation, as I have volunteered with Leslie Lattimore of Wings of Hope for over 7 years and continue to do so when time allows.  Aside from that, I've always been immensely interested in animals. Photographing, studying or helping to rehabilitate them, they have always been a prominent fixture in my life. 

I spent a few weeks in England IN 2016 AND 2017 volunteering 10 to 12 hour long days a week with The Fox Project.  This organization has been around since 1991 and are probably the most well known fox rescue in the world.  The hands on knowledge I received through The Fox Project has been the most valuable "training" I could have ever received.  I brought back to the states many aspects of this organization's techniques and protocols.  I've even used their enclosure guidelines to build my own.  The team at The Fox Project has been great as far as support id concerned as well; if I have an issue I'm unsure of I can email them and they always promptly reply, easing my novice nerves.  

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Along with my volunteering with the fox ambulance and at the unit, The Fox Project also allowed me to document their many efforts through photography, video, and interviews.  I was able to meet with not just the staff, but a handful of their amazing fosterers, a definite highlight of my time there.  I am still working through all the content and still have a bit more to collect, but there will be more on that experience, the staff, volunteers and the foxes of The Fox Project soon.

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Back to my rescue efforts in the USA: We don't see foxes that often in wildlife rehab in Louisiana.  However, last year we did get a handful of Gray Fox kits and a couple of sub-adult Red Foxes. This year, starting in late April, Leslie started receiving Red Fox kits and I wanted to help her out as much as I could, so we started the construction of the first fox enclosure in May 2017 on my property.  Before I could do anything with the foxes though, I had to get my permit from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.  This entails a test and a checklist of requirements that must be met,  and an enclosure built to the standards set forth by the International Wildlife Rehabilitators Association was the last requirement I needed to fill.

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With the physical help of Julie Amador and Mike Ginn and the monetary help of some supporters, we completed the enclosure in about 2 full days. In late May we transferred the five Red Fox kits to my new enclosure, and so a new chapter begins.