An Itch In Time - Mangy Fox Rescue

06/12/2026

Yves Saint Laurent is a repeat offender. This is her 3rd time in the clink. We guess she just can’t get enough prison food, or maybe she just wants a little “me time”. She knows the routine by now as Warden Luke frees her. She doesn’t even stomp when he starts singing. She’s either tone deaf or a sadist.

06/11/2026

Please be weird, get laughed at, irritating, gross, aggravating, & uncool… because the animals you save don’t think any of those things, and their opinion is the only one that really matters.

Be that weird guy who pulled over and checked on the animal that was hit by a car to see if it was still alive and needed help.

Be the construction worker that left work early while his buddies laughed at him because he found an injured squirrel and wanted to get it to safety.

Be the irritating woman who isn’t afraid to stop traffic because a mama duck is trying to cross the road with her babies.

Be the gross person who isn’t disgusted by a mangy fox and sees it as an animal that needs help from the right people.

Be the aggravating informant who tells the guy buying rat poison what it does to our local wildlife.

Be the uncool kid who stops his friends from trying to hurt a snake they found for fun.

When we start feeling bad or embarrassed for showing EMPATHY toward another and trying to SAVE A LIFE, then we have let the opinions of others mean WAY too much.

Never apologize for being a good and caring human being. There aren’t enough in this world.

Jane Newhouse
Newhouse Wildlife Rescue

06/10/2026

Francesca, #182, from Voorhees, NJ was captured early this morning. She is not our intended target, but apparently she was hungry enough to risk going in for our hotdogs in bbq sauce and raw eggs. She, and her mate, Phil, appear to be healthy on camera and we were not expecting either of them to enter the trap. It’s extremely rare to catch a healthy fox since they are well enough to be avid hunters and less likely to take risks like going into a trap.

Our original target is extremely mangy and has appeared twice very briefly near the trap. We are playing the waiting game until he or she is desperate enough to go in for the hoard of bait in the back.

Luke transferred Francesca into a carrier to calm her down so he could observe her to make sure she was healthy and showing no signs of mange. As you can see from the pictures in the beginning of the video, Phil came to check on her and briefly keep her company before he took off. There’s a good chance that the two of them are a bonded mating pair… and Phil had to get back to the kits.

Once Luke felt that Francesca was good to go, he released her from the carrier. Minutes later, Luke saw her trotting across several front yards in the neighborhood, most likely heading back towards the direction of her family. She did let out a loud yell, which was most likely her announcing she was coming home. Trapping foxes can be very traumatic and stressful, so we’re glad she was able to be released right away and not have to take a trip to a rehab rehabilitation center… and be away from her partner and potential kits.

06/09/2026

Here’s the short version of Dublin’s capture. Please… Follow our page to see the full video and other rescues like his! Don’t forget to Like & Share our page too!

06/09/2026

Dublin, #181, from Sicklerville, NJ is a small male kit that appears to be orphaned for one reason or another. We got a call yesterday afternoon from Donna, mother of homeowner, Skyler, who had a mangy fox on her property. The call was perfect timing, as Luke was just wrapping up his part-time job. The picture that was sent to him is the first picture in the video. The instant he saw the condition of the fox, he headed straight for the location.

When he got there, Luke crept around the entire shed to see if the fox was sunbathing. It was not… but he then peeked under each opening under the shed and the fox was sleeping less than 2 feet from the edge. Afraid to move and startle the fox in the wrong direction, Luke texted for Skyler to sneak outside and then go to the back of the shed. The plan was for Skyler to bang on the back wall of the shed in hopes the fox would run out the front where Luke was waiting with his pole net in hand. Skyler came out holding her adorable toddler who was so quiet and cooperative during the ordeal. Skyler is holding her daughter on one hip and banging on the wall with her free hand. This went on for several minutes, but the attempt failed. The fox never budged… not sure if it was too lethargic to care or felt that staying put was its safest option. Luke then tried to get Skyler to toss pebbles down the long narrow opening to scare the fox out… also, did not work.

Luke decided to back away and let the fox stay in place for the moment. He texted Nicole, AIIT Volunteer, to come over to help assist. Nicole had the bright idea to bring her leaf blower in hopes that the constant wind and blowing of small particles would encourage the fox to leave the safety of the shed. Well the plan worked and the fox came out slowly and out of sorts. Luke was able to snag the fox, which he originally thought was a small vixen, but ended up being a kit.

After securing the kit in the net, Nicole & Luke worked together to identify the s*x of the kit and get it safely into the carrier. After sending out a few texts to the AIIT Volunteer group, Karen Cooper, & Dr. Mei-An… Nicole decided it would be best if she transported Dublin herself to Karen,from Cooper’s Fox Den. We didn’t want to hold the kit temporarily over night and transport the next day. We knew the kit was most likely dehydrated and needed subcutaneous fluids and to be monitored by a licensed fox rehabber.

From the time the call came in… to the time Dublin was road bound for recovery, was 2 hours. We are so fortunate to have an incredible group of volunteers willing to serve a purpose to save and protect the fox population. It’s truly a team effort and personal sacrifices are made to get our critical foxes the care they need right away.

We are behind of some fox posts, so please stay tuned as the stories roll out of other foxes we’ve caught over the last few weeks. Some happy & sad… but that’s how it goes with any rescue. So we apologize if our stories are out of order.

And thank you to all of you who support & donate to us in some way. You keep us funded, supplied, and encouraged to keep going forward with our mission. 🦊 ❤️

06/08/2026

The dad, from our Dental Lab Skulk in Cherry Hill, hunted a squirrel then cached it directly in front of the den hole. Why?… to teach life skills. He purposely did this so one of the kits would sniffs out and discover the kill, dig it up, and take it away to eat.

This is one of the many roles a dad fox plays in raising his young. He could have easily dropped it outside the den for a kit to find, but what lesson would the kit learn from that? Dad is showing the importance of stashing away food for later and to hide it out of plain sight. Foxes will cache away their food, like squirrels with acorns… except foxes always remember where they hid their food.

It was a treat to see how efficient dad was at burying the squirrel as if it was never there. The kits don’t know this yet, because they eat everything they can as they’re growing… but having food caches are extremely important for survival, especially in the winter. As foxes get older and realize they need to save food for a rainy day (literally)… they’ll over hunt if the opportunity arises. Come winter, an adult fox can have a half dozen + food sources hidden just for when life gets tough. Foxes are scavengers, so rotting meat is digestible in their system, but come winter… their food stays fresher longer and as long as the snow doesn’t turn to ice, they can eat when they please.

06/08/2026

2 MINUTES!!! That’s all it takes of your time to move a dead animal out of the roadway to keep other scavengers from being hit and perpetuating the problem. Luke left the male opossum to be food for another animal (fox, hawk, raccoon, vulture, etc). This way those animals can eat safely and feed their young as well.

If this were a female opossum, she would have had joeys in her pouch or already latched to her back… increasing the death toll if left in the roadway. The sooner you move the deceased the safer it is for all other animals involved.

ALWAYS KEEP DISPOSABLE GLOVES IN YOUR VEHICLE! (& a pair of leather or bite proof gloves too). If this were a female, you could check the pouch for joeys and either drive to a rehab center with the injured/deceased mom so the baby joeys can be saved… or call non-emergency police to arrange for animal control to come get from you.

Obviously use caution and safely extract the injured/deceased animal from the roadway. Please you common sense and don’t put yourself in harms way. Any true animal lover driving by on a residential street will slow down and/or stop traffic to allow you to retrieve the animal if you make your intentions clear. This particular roadway is a county road and during morning rush hours, so Luke had to time things out accordingly. Thankfully, after the initial hit, all other passers avoided the opossum and prevented further damage. Unfortunately, nobody spent the time to move the opossum… and just one of the many reasons for this post.

Please, let’s change the culture of how we drive and how we treat our “roadkill”. They are animals and have/had families. Babies rely heavily on their parents for survival, especially moms. Let’s treat wildlife like we would treat someone’s pet that ran into the road. Let’s show a little compassion and not be so self-absorbed in our own little worlds. We’re ALL interconnected. Let’s treat everybody and everything as living creatures… we ALL have value and serve a purpose.

06/03/2026

You can’t put a price on passion. Karen Cooper (rehabber, owner, operator) from Cooper’s Fox Den, Dr. Mei-An Raicer (veterinarian) from Bayshore Animal Hospital, and all the field volunteers from An Itch In Time (Kathleen, Nicole, Rissa, Kevin, Dave, & Luke)… ALL dedicate their “free time” to foxes like GRANT, pictured here. No animal deserves to suffer, especially from the torturous plight of mange.

Over 100 years ago mange was purposely released upon North America in Texas and Montana to kill off predatory animals killing livestock. It has since spread like wildlife, effecting over 100 different mammalian species worldwide both wild and domestic. Humans created this mess, and it’s our responsibility as humans to try and right the wrong that was so carelessly unleashed. When we allow “nature to take its course”… it’s man’s way of saying “I don’t care” or “That’s not my problem”. It’s 100% unacceptable to utter such words.

Doing nothing is the same as releasing mange upon the world. You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution. Look into Grant’s eye and tell him he doesn’t deserve to live. Tell him he deserves to suffer a long and excruciating death. Tell him he’s not worth your time. If he were a golden retriever, would that change your opinion? Why, because domestic animals hold I higher level of importance in this world? Just like every human in this world, we deserve to live happy and healthy lives. Animals, whether domestic or wild, also deserve to live happy and healthy lives.

Mange is easily preventable. Stop poisoning our wildlife with rodenticides, fertilizers, pesticides, and pollution. It weakens their immune systems. We’re destroying the natural antibodies animals have to protect themselves from mange. Medications can easily reverse the effects of mange if an animal is caught and treated. Changing how you care for your lawns can prevent mange. Changing how we view rodents and what we do to prevent rodents can prevent mange. Stop poisoning the base of the food chain, and watch how much our ecosystems will rebound.

Every person holds the power to make a difference… personally and socially. Speak out, petition, get involved directly or indirectly… be the change. Never wait for someone else to do something you know you can do yourself. Look into Grant’s eyes and tell him he’s worth it.