Late one night in April, Ariel Montoro heard what sounded like a baby crying outside his East Gwillimbury home.
Along with his wife, Montoro searched for the source of the sound, but could not find it. When the sound was heard again the next day, Montoro searched under his deck and shed, but still could not find what was making the noise.
Finally, after leaving out some pet food, Montoro eventually found what was making the crying noise, an earth of kits, also known as a den of baby foxes.
Montoro called Aurora Animal Services to come catch the animals, suspecting they had been orphaned. He said a fox he’d seen hanging around his deck “and making his dogs go crazy” earlier that month had been killed by a car, only a few days prior to Montoro hearing the kits’ crying.
Thankfully, this modern day re-telling of The Fox and Hound had a happy ending, after Aurora Animal Services, the Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge and Montoro came to the rescue.
Linsday Clarke, Aurora animal services supervisor, said the other fox parent had been injured and taken to Shades of Hope for treatment earlier that year, leaving the fox kits orphaned.
The Town of Aurora’s Animal Services Department set up humane tramps to safely contain them, and after four attempts, all the kits were contained and safely transported to Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge, added Clarke.
“I kind of wanted to keep a couple of them at least because they were so cute,” said Montoro. “And we wanted to find out they were being taken care of properly and they weren’t just going to get rid of them.”
After three months of care, medical assessments, and treatment at the Shades of Hope Wildlife Refuge in Pefferlaw, the kits were ready to be released safely back into the wild.
The good news story comes at a busy time for Aurora’s Animal Services Department, which provides domestic and wildlife animal services for Aurora and Georgina, as well as wildlife assistance to the Town of East Gwillimbury since May 2022.
“Summer is our busiest season of the year,” said Clarke. “During these months, we typically receive between 200 and 400 calls for assistance each month from each municipality. These calls cover a wide range of issues, including bylaw violations, stray or sick animals, injured wildlife, and a higher number of baby animals needing help.”
Clarke added another “ongoing concern is the rising number of surrender requests and abandoned animals within Aurora and Georgina.”
“Officers are responding to calls for kittens being dumped in boxes and puppies being left at the side of the road,” she added. “We suspect that the housing and affordability crisis is forcing some individuals to choose between their homes and their pets.”
“The Town of Aurora urges any residents facing challenges to care for their animals to reach out to Aurora’s Animal Services or the Georgina Animal Shelter to discuss options. We are committed to offering support and exploring solutions to help keep pets in their homes whenever possible.”
