Missouri: Baby Fox Trapped in Storm Drain Rescued by Police Officers

MISSOURI -- Two Kearney police officers responded to an unusual call Wednesday night when dispatchers sent them to investigate reports of strange noises coming from a storm drain.

"I'd never been in a sewer drain before," said Officer Jeffrey Garton of the Kearney Police Department. "I don't know if I'd do it again. It would have to be a good reason."

The reason on Wednesday night was something special.

"I came down here and I could observe a small baby fox that was down in the bottom of the drainage ditch," said Sgt. Joe Kantola of the Kearney Police Department.

The officers were able to save the fox and capture the video on Garton's body camera.

  

"Officer Garton forgot that he had his on and he was lucky to capture it," Kantola said.

The fox got stuck between two drains.

"Sgt. Kantola went down and the fox ended up running from him because he was obviously scared," Garton said.

"Foxes, you know, it's not something you see every day and I knew that I wanted to help out," said Kantola.

The men said they don't know how long the fox had been in the drain, but they're glad they rescued it when they did. The drain is more than 15 feet deep and there was no way the fox would get out without their help.

"He had maybe a day left," said Garton. "He seemed pretty weak, scared and wet."

"It could walk but it wasn't very fast," Kantola said.

After about 30 minutes, the two men were able to catch the fox, with one general thought.

"I hope it's friendly," said Garton.

It was.

"It appeared to be a gray fox with a little bit of red," Kantola said. "It was very young, very small. We looked around for a mother fox but felt it wouldn't survive if we released it into the wild."

The fox was taken to a Liberty veterinary clinic, where experts will try to prepare it for release back into the wild.

This is actually the third time Kearney police have had to rescue a fox from a drain. This is the first rescue involving a baby fox.

From the Kearney Missouri Police Department Facebook page:

Late Wednesday Night, Police Officer JD Garton and Sgt. Joe Kantola responded to a call for service in which a Kearney Citizen could hear noises coming from the storm drains in front of their house. Officers were able to track the noise to another storm drain and could see that a baby fox was inside. Sgt. Kantola entered the storm drain, but the fox went further into the drainage system. Officer Garton entered the drain at a different location to prevent the fox from going any further. After navigating over 150 feet of the drainage system, the officers were able to safely rescue the fox. The Fox will be taken to an animal rescue, where it will be nursed to health and later released.

(AOL News - April 9, 2016)