River

River’s story is one of the most heartbreaking and inspiring, we’ve ever witnessed at Salty Fox Sanctuary. He arrived with the final group of rescues from SaveAFox, a survivor of the fur farm system where he had endured years of neglect and mistreatment.

From his size and the severe damage to his feet caused by standing on wire cages, we believe River was kept as a breeder fox, likely between three and four years old when he came to us. River was the most traumatized fox I had ever met. He was so terrified of humans that even seeing me step out of my back door across the yard would send him into hiding.

Up close, his fear was even more heartbreaking, he would be full body trembling, he would try to bury his face, squeezing himself behind or underneath his house so desperately that he risked hurting himself just to disappear. 

I knew earning his trust would take patience, time, and love. For an entire year, I worked slowly and gently with him, showing him that he was finally safe, (by giving him fig newtons secretly). And now, something I never thought possible, I can hold him in my arms. River still carries his past with him, but his journey reminds us all that even the deepest wounds can begin to heal when met with kindness.