An adorable stray baby fox was rescued and treated after mistaking a family dog for her mum and following her home.
As the Caballero family from Tempe, Arizona, explained in an interview with 12 News, they were surprised to see a baby fox join their stroll when they were out with their family dog named Olive.
According to the family, the 6-week-old fox must have mistaken their dog for its mum as it followed them all the way to their house where it drank water from the sprinklers.
“It was really small and it was a gray fox, so kind of gray and it was like this big [the size of a palm], the top of it was gray,” Preston Caballero explained to 12 News.
As his grandmother added, they managed to capture the fox without touching it and informed the local wildlife center about their finding.
Once the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center secured the fox, they reassured the family, especially Preston, who was unwilling to hand ‘Foxy’ over, that the adorable wild animal would be safe with them.
According to Khymberly Lewus of the SWCC, the fox had been syringe-fed for days until it remembered how to eat on its own.
As the center confirmed, the fox would be released back into the wild as soon as it was strong enough to survive on its own.
While foxes are typically reluctant to approach people on their own accord, it is possible that Foxy followed the family home due to mistaking their dog for its parent.
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Replaced!