Everyone knows raccoons are silly, but did you know they’re also super clingy?
Cheese’s new favorite hobby is to crawl inside of my clothes. He does this any chance he gets and if he can’t find a way inside my shirt, hoodie, or pants, he shoves himself into my pockets until they break at the seams.
#raccoons #rescue #wildlife #cheese #animalsantuary
Juniper takes bedtime seriously and does not want to share her space, or hear Fig breathing, or hear Fig move, or have Fig touch her, or really be reminded of his existence at all.
#fox #juniper #dramatic #vocals #animals
He started crying the second he realized what it was and I lost it.
The sound he is making is a vocalization foxes often use when calling babies or family members.
It’s a sound of endearment.
He truly loves this gift. 🥹
Yesterday was Fig’s 9th birthday. 🤍
Fig has always been a quiet soul. The first day I met him he was in a yard with several other baby foxes. While they all ran around playing, he found a shady spot under some tree roots and laid down to silently watch them from a distance. His calm and watchful presence never changed, even 9 years later he still quietly observes the world move him as he finds a placid place to rest.
Each year on his birthday I like to honor his unhurried disposition and have a peaceful day that we spend together.
With every year that passes I become more and more grateful for these untroubled, quiet days together.
Happy birthday Figgy boy.
These eight little baby opossums came to us this week after their mom was shot. She’s still with us but in critical care and she was too weak to continue caring for her babies while trying to heal. Thankfully all eight are healthy, thriving, and continuing to grow. They’ll be staying with us until they’re big enough to release back into the wild where they belong.
We aren’t sure why or where mama opossum was shot.
She was found barely hanging on by a passerby with a big heart who brought her into @wakulla_wildlife in an attempt to save her and her babies. Everyone is doing all that they can to make sure she survives. 🤍
In most circumstances wildlife is shot when people do not wish for an animal to be on their property. A more humane way to deter wild animals from your property would be to remove any resources that may be attracting them. Be sure to:
🌱 Put away any pet or livestock food at the end of the day
🌱 Secure trash cans
🌱 Close up spaces that could become shelter for small animals
🌱 Create safe and secure enclosures for outdoor pets
Everyone thinks Fig is SO innocent, but he’s an instigator.
He waits until Juniper is perfectly relaxed before locking onto his target and bounding up to her. She’s so used to his routine she usually starts yelling at him from across the room, fully aware that he’s on his way to pester her. Sometimes we will be in the bedroom and can hear the distinct sound of Fig’s trot immediately followed by Juniper’s sharp yell and we just giggle, knowing he just walked over to breathe in her face.
There’s a reason his nickname is Ol’ Hot Breath.
Dove is now officially friends with Frank and Cheese!
It has taken several months for their friendship to blossom, but it has been delightful to watch unfold.
Raccoons are very sensitive animals and can be territorial. Introducing a new raccoon into an already established group can be difficult. So, in order to make the integration as easy as possible I had to first wait for Dove to be big enough and then slowly introduce her to one raccoon at a time.
Frank is the most easy-going and is always rather nonchalant, so I introduced her to him first. I spent serval weeks letting them spend a few hours at a time together which helped Dove gain some racooon social skills. Then I moved on to letting her and Cheese play alone together. Cheese was a bit difficult and didn’t take to her as quickly as I had imagined he would. Being that they are the closest in age I thought that he would he excited to have another young raccoon to play with, instead he felt the need to bully her for the first few encounters. This caused some setbacks because it killed her confidence for a while, but he eventually came around and decided he loves her. Now they constantly play together and he loves napping with her.
Newt is the most dominant in the group and was very tough on Cheese during their introduction to each other last year. So I’ve been very hesitant and cautious about his introduction to Dove. For now they greet each other through a fence, but he has seemed much more interested and docile with her than he did with either of the boys and I have a feeling he might have a little crush.
👉Check out our Patreon for an in depth look at their introductions and other behind the scenes footage of life at our sanctuary.
Link in bio.
Every day is Earth Day🤍
In a world that puts profit over preservation here are some things each of us can do to help maintain our beautiful planet:
* Plant native plants and trees around your home to support native insects and wildlife.
* Help local land conservation efforts by donating to or volunteering with conservation organizations.
* Reduce paper use, buy sustainably, eat mindfully. Beef, palm oil, and soy-based products are major drivers of global deforestation.
* Consider the environmental impact of the technology you choose to use regularly. Using Al tools, streaming services, and cloud storage relies on massive data centers that consume large amounts of electricity and water, often sourced from forested or rural areas. And have a huge negative impact on the environment.
* Elect conservation-minded leaders and encourage environmental platforms in local elections.
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” 🌎
Music by: @bigtreesings
In the spring red foxes drop their thick winter coats to make way for a shorter and less dense summer coat. All of the foxes at our sanctuary are ranched foxes or were bred on a “fur farm” which means they were bred to have unnaturally dense coats, far more dense than a wild fox. This was intentionally bred into their generics so that they would have an extremely plush pelt once they were eventually “harvested”. 💔
This dense coat is far harder to shed than the natural winter coat of a wild red fox. While some of our foxes can shed their entire coat on their own. There are a few that need some assistance. Juniper is one of those foxes. She is very particular in the way she likes to be groomed and usually won’t allow us to brush her. I’ve found the only way to reliably get some of these winter tufts off is to make it a game, which allows me to get a little off each time I touch her.
This process doesn’t hurt her at all and despite all of her fussing she does feel much better once I’m finished.
#thehappiestfox #wildlife #fox #juniper #springcleaning
You would have been 16 today.
I would have made you a cake and we would have gone for a long walk. I thought about going anyway,
but I don’t walk in the woods like I used to.
We used to spend hours there together. You, me, and Juniper.
She doesn’t like to leave the yard anymore, but she still watches the treeline for glimpses of you.
If heaven is different for everyone, I hope mine looks like a summer day. The three of us walking through the woods as the sun starts to set. My favorite color of green is illuminating from the leaves as water drips from your fur. You smell like wet earth laying next to me. Juniper’s tail wags as she looks up at you.
We’ll start to walk home soon.
Blink is one of the few foxes I have that doesn’t like to be touched so I had never considered teaching him this trick before.
Yesterday, I was trying to coax him to let me pet him and he kept batting my hand away. This was the perfect behavior for me to try and teach him the trick “shake”. He caught on almost immediately.
He had the trick nailed down within less than 10 minutes!
Usually when I teach an animal to shake I repeatedly grab their paw until it clicks and they will start to reach for my hand on their own. This is the first time I’ve ever taught this trick to an animal I can’t touch, so I’m very excited and very proud of Blink.
I absolutely love trick training because it is enriching for them as it requires them to really take time to think about what I’m asking. In the wild they would be using their minds to find food, create shelter, raise young, and survive. They don’t have to think about any of that in captivity, so giving them complex tasks helps to keep them sharp and builds trust as we bond and communicate with each other.
