Buddy, the famous Yukon fox once thought to be a dog, has died

Almost 10 years after a case of mistaken identity that made international headlines, the Yukon Wildlife Preserve has laid to rest the red fox affec‐ tionately known as Buddy.

Discovered when it was days old, the tiny creature was initially thought it to be a puppy - and briefly nursed by a Chihuahua - before becom‐ ing a crowd favourite at the preserve, and beyond.

The fox was found aban‐ doned at Marsh Lake in 2014 by Yukoner Ralph Shopland.

Figuring it was a puppy, Shopland and his family took to Facebook to find a wet nurse.

Whitehorse resident Di‐ ana White took on that task, because her Chihuahua named Baby-Girl had just giv‐ en birth.

"I kept looking at him. I'm going, 'This isn't a dog' .... Like I just knew it wasn't a dog," she said.

"I was like, 'I can try my dog and see what she does', because she had just given puppies a couple days be‐ fore. She just laid there and let him suckle."

As the days passed, the little creature developed an "obvious" smell, and a little white tip on his tail.

Theories emerged it was a bear cub, an otter, a marten or a wolverine, White said.

Eventually, Yukon Wildlife Preserve staff concluded it was a fox kit, and offered to take the critter into their care.

Lindsay Caskenette was one of those staff.

"It was less than two weeks old when it came into our care. So it all happened in the pretty immediate days of this animal's life. When it's opened it eyes it was to hu‐ mans," she said.

In the fox's first few mon‐ ths, Caskenette said the pre‐ serve's staff were focused on giving it the best chance of survival in the wild.

"We were trying, at that point, to ensure that staff were not spending too much time with it - only meeting its basic needs. But one of the basic needs of a small animal is nurture,... so it was a diffi‐ cult balance," she said.

"Then you add in that this adorable, fluffy, very charis‐ matic little creature and it's really hard not to get at‐ tached."

Eventually, staff deter‐ mined it was unlikely that the fox would be able to be re‐ leased back into the wild.

That meant he needed a long-term habitat, said Caskenette, who is now the preserve's manager of visitor services.

The Yukon Wildlife Pre‐ serve needed to fundraise $10,000 to build it, and the fox's new global fan base was ready to help.

"Somehow his story just kind of caught all the media. People magazine caught it .... Just the the reach of it was crazy," Caskenette recalled.

As the fox grew, Caskenette said he devel‐ oped a distinct playfulness and personality.

He became known as Buddy to some of the pre‐ serve's visitors.

"Partly because he was raised by a Chihuahua and partly raised by humans, he was not far off the mark of a dog .... It just goes to show how important in any animal, including ourselves, those first days and weeks, the ini‐ tial exposure to life is. Be‐ cause his was humans and not his own kind, that really set a different course for that animal."

Sometimes, she said, the fox would roll over, or cry or whine.

"He was so ridiculous in some of his mannerisms: the crying and the wagging of the tail and and being so dog-like really just captivated people," Caskenette said.

"To also see people's reac‐ tions to that - that was really special."

Caskenette also endear‐ ingly recalled people's reac‐ tions to his abrasive smell.

"I just remember him being so bloody smelly. Just so smelly. What's really funny is we don't have skunks here in the territory. And people would come visit the facility and they'd breathe in like, 'Nature's so lovely.' But they'd that at the red fox habitat. And it smelt very skunky."

Fox lived a "really long health life"

The Yukon Wildlife Pre‐ serve announced late last month that they'd made the difficult decision to put their beloved fox to rest.

After a long, gradual de‐ cline in health he died just shy of 10 years old.

He'd enjoyed a "really long, healthy life," Caskenette said.

"Generally, the length of the life of a fox in the wild is a small fraction of that. So we were lucky to see so much more of that individual's per‐ sonality and life in our facil‐ ity."

The announcement of his passing prompted an out‐ pouring of photos and mem‐ ories on the preserve's Face‐ book page.

"I'm happy that everything worked out for him, and everybody enjoyed him," White said. "And that we had a little part in his life."

Caskenette said her team were working on a way to make sure his story isn't for‐ gotten.

"It's more than just a viewing experience for peo‐ ple to see these animals or see some of this behaviour, but to learn their stories and hopefully encourage us to do something differently."