Help us name the four orphan baby fox cubs!
The Kildare Animal Foundation baby fox cubs
This week I’d like to introduce you to the D16 fox cubs, who are named after the area they were found In County Dublin. We would also like to ask Leinster Leader readers - especially younger readers - to help name the baby fox cubs.
- Dan Donoher’s column about the animals helped by Kildare Animal Foundation appears every week in the Leinster Leader -
Their mother was sadly killed on the road late on Friday night and the poor cubs were not found until Monday, April 9.
A kind person came upon them and contacted a rescue in the Dublin area who then went to their rescue. They then called us for help as they know that we have experience in this field.
The cubs, three boys and one girl are just three weeks old and need to be bottle fed on special replacement milk every 3 – 4 hours.
At this age their eyes are not long open and they have just started to walk, albeit a bit wobbly.
They will remain on the special milk for the next couple of weeks and then they will slowly be weaned on to puppy food and chicken.
To make sure that the four cubs can be released back to the wild, human contact is kept to a minimum.
They have only have one carer who will care for them for all their time with us.
Once they have been weaned and are old enough to go into a large outdoor pen they will not see their carer again.
Food and water will be placed in to their pen without them seeing. It is very important that the little foxes don’t associate humans with food. This gives them the best chance of survive in the wild. In August they will be moved to a safe and fox-friendly area and placed in a pre-release pen. They will remain in the pen so they can get use to the sight and smells of their new surrondings.
September would be the natural time for them to leave their parents so this is when the pen door will be opened and they can explore the outside world. They will be fed at the site of release pen until they adjust to living in the wild.
It is important to remember that a special licence is obtained by me to rescue and care for wild animals and it is an offence to have a wild birds/animals in your possession unless you have a NPWS licence.
I will update you on the cubs progress in a couple of weeks’ time…
HELP NAME THE BABY FOX CUBS! Kildare Animal Foundation has invited our readers - especially our younger readers - to help name the baby fox cubs. Email your suggestions to editor@leinsterleader.ie.
Kildare Animal Foundation, located outside Kildare town, is a voluntary organisation that provides a safe haven for abused or neglected animals. Tel: 045 522929, email info@animalfoundation.ie or log on to www.animalfoundation.ie. All donations welcome.
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Weather for Naas, Ireland
Saturday 25 May 2013
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