One of the animals rescued as part of a recent prosecution in Co Waterford was a fox named Shadow who had been confined in a small barren pen for his entire six year life. When opportunities to improve the accommodation provided for Shadow were not taken, he was seized by an ISPCA Animal Welfare Inspector. You can read about the case here https://ispca.ie/eight-month-custodial-sentence-imposed…/
When dealing with injured or orphaned wildlife, the aim should always be to return the animal to the wild as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, since Shadow had been held captive for so long, it was not possible to have him rewilded or released. But the ISPCA was able to arrange the next best thing thanks to the help of Wild Ireland in Donegal. After a period of quarantine Shadow was placed in a specialised habitat along with other foxes and is now living as close to a natural life as is possible.
Senior Inspector Alice Lacey said “It’s heart-warming to see him playing with his companion and it really shows how far he has progressed since his rescue and the importance of being with his own species.
His care now fully meets his physiological, behavioural, environmental and social needs. His new home and environment now resembles to the fullest possible degree the life he would ordinarily have lived in the wild”.
