The final chapter

For those of you who have been following the challenges of Beasty Boy, this is the final and very joyous chapter of his release. Although as most stories, it is not without its traumas. Tropical storm Fay made its appearance in Tallahassee on Friday, and soggy appearance at that, with 25 inches of rain falling in 24 hours.

By now, Beasty absolutely refused to be confined in a kennel or a pen, and for a while the conditions were such with the water lapping at the door I could do little more than peer out the door and hope for the best. On day twopf Fau, he was getting tired of staying out in the rain and demanded entrance into my home, but I had been forced to leave by the rising water and knew that he would be better off outside where he could get up to higher. Eventually I returned home and he was so happy to see me that he jumped into my arms.

Again I despaired that I might, for the first time in 8 years working with wildlife, have my first case of imprinting. That night, Beasty scratched at the door, tired of being left outside. This time I relented. Since Beast had no manners and would have insisted on chewing on the cats if he had been allowed, I placed him a large air kennel; but this would not do. He tore at the confines of his cage. He certainly did not understand why the cats were allowed to run around the house and he was not.

Finally, I was forced to take him outside and release him from the kennel in order to prevent injury. For Beasty, four days under a deluge while the cats stayed, fat, happy and notably dry inside the house was the last straw. It was time to check out the real world where he didn't sit dripping wet as the cats sat smuggly on the other side of the glass mocking him, and he took off. The separation process I believe is harder on the rehabber than it is on the animal, for the next 24 hours I worried about him -- fearful that he had been swept away in the flood.

But our story has a happy ending, Beasty Boy the grey fox was spotted the next day pouncing on crickets and having a whale of a time about a mile away from home and there he remains. So Beasty Boy is back where he belongs in the wild, hunting small prey as he polishes his skills until he's ready to stalk bigger quarry and should he return for a visit, I believe we find him a snack.