Pieces of glaciers and icebergs have been floating out into the oceans forever, just ask the Titanic. It’s not necessarily that it hasn’t always been happening, but that the rate of breakage and ice melt is increasing.
Animals don’t necessarily understand that and it can seriously endanger their lives if luck doesn’t go their way.
Mallory Harrigan, Allan Russell, and Cliff Russell own a small fishing boat, which they sail in the cold waters around Labrador, Canada.
They were sailing The Northern Swan about 4 miles offshore when they spotted an iceberg with a wide top balancing on a narrow stalk. It was clear that the top could collapse at any moment.
Huddled on top, they saw a tiny animal. At first, they thought it was an arctic seal.
But as their boat got closer, they realized it wasn’t a resting seal, but a cold, furry animal that definitely wouldn’t survive when the ice collapsed.
It was an arctic fox that must have been scavenging on the ice when it broke away from the shore, stranding it.
They pulled the boat up beside the ice and tried to coax the fox to climb down, but eventually they had to use their net to get it off the ice.
Mallory told Bored Panda :
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“We scooped him up and he retreated to the corner. He was too weak to do anything when we brought him aboard, he slept most of the way! When we came to he was a bit nervous but once we fed him he was pretty calm.”
They made him a makeshift home in a crate, with water and warm bedding.
For the first few hours, he refused to eat, huddling and sleeping in the crate. As he dried out, his white, fluffy fur was revealed.
Finally, he accepted some food in the form of a tin of Vienna sausages.
With a full belly and probably a growing understanding that the humans were there to help, it made itself cozy.
By the time they were nearing shore, the fox was looking much better. Look at the floofy tail!
Arctic foxes are similar to polar bears in that they have black skin to attract and trap warmth from the sun and white fur for camouflage.
Back on shore, they weren’t sure where he’d originally lived, but they found him a new home.
Along the barren coast of Labrador, they discovered an old abandoned dog house and decided to let him loose there.
He seems to be happy in his new home.
Mallory told The Dodo that they’ve seen him around and he looks healthy.
“We’re glad to have saved an animal. We can still see him from time to time!”
h/t: Bored Panda
