It’s with great sadness that the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center announces the sudden passing of our beautiful seven year old red fox Keela. Keela was raised by a family and came to us as a surrender when they knew they could no longer properly care for her. Since she was an adult and had never lived in the wild, she was not releasable as she wouldn’t know how to survive.
Having been raised with humans, Keela easily bonded with our staff members who cared for her. In 2023, the Center was given a grant to build Keela a fox den cage on our property. She had numerous donated playthings for animal enrichment in the cage, like a swing and a trampoline, and had a large den area underneath to burrow and hide as she wanted. While she tended to hide in the rafters or underground in the hot summer months, Keela spent the winters, adorned by her thick and fluffy winter coat of fur, playing in the cage to the delight of visitors and the staff. She was always playful and full of energy. When she suddenly began to show the first signs of not feeling well, she was rushed to one of our wonderful supporting veterinarians and it was determined that she was quite ill.
A sonogram and x-rays revealed that Keela had a very serious heart problem, due to a large cancerous mass in one of her heart valves. There was no way of knowing she had this, and sadly, nothing we could do to save her. She probably never felt anything wrong before the tumor ruptured and she went into heart failure.
While Keela was often hiding from visitors during the daytime, she could always be found patiently waiting for the staff to come visit and play with her in the mornings and evenings. We will always miss her, and know that she is now running free like a fox should be. But for now, we are all heartbroken and grieving this incredible loss. As all animal lovers know, saying goodbye is the hardest part.
