A fox sneaked aboard a cargo ship in England and wound up 3,400 miles away in New York after an unplanned Atlantic crossing. The animal was discovered alive among the ship’s cargo when it arrived at the Port of New York and New Jersey on Feb. 18, turning what began as a routine shipment into an unexpected wildlife rescue.
The Bronx Zoo said the fox was transferred to its facility on Feb. 19 after U.S. port officers found it aboard a vehicle-transport ship. No one has been able to explain how the animal got on the vessel before it departed from Southampton on Feb. 4.
Fox sneaks across the Atlantic on a cargo ship
The zoo identified the fox as a roughly 2-year-old male weighing about 11 pounds. He is currently being monitored by veterinary and animal care staff at the zoo’s Animal Health Center.
Booking Passage…
A red fox that sneaked onto a cargo ship off the coast of Southampton has successfully made it thousands of miles across the Atlantic and is now in the care of the Bronx Zoo in New York.The zoo said on Wednesday that the fox – a two-year-old male weighing… pic.twitter.com/UVphSpoarg
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Early examinations suggest the fox is in good shape, the zoo said, though results from additional checkups are still outstanding. Once those assessments are finished, the zoo plans to consult wildlife specialists about finding a permanent placement for the animal.
Keith Lovett, the zoo’s director of animal programs, said the fox appears to be settling in after the trip and has been through a lot.
A spokesperson for Associated British Ports Southampton said staff were caught off guard when they learned a fox had hitched a ride across the ocean. The port deals with a wide range of cargo, from vehicles and shipping containers to cruise ships, but even by those standards, this was a first.
Red foxes known for wide range and adaptability
The spokesperson added, with some humor, that the fox apparently preferred New York over the Solent and quipped that a voyage on the Queen Mary 2, which also connects Southampton and New York, would have offered a far cushier ride.
The Bronx Zoo noted that red foxes have one of the largest natural ranges of any meat-eating mammal. Recognizable by their rust-colored coats and bushy, white-tipped tails, they inhabit territories stretching from Europe and Asia to North America and portions of Africa.
The zoo shares that their ability to thrive in vastly different settings, from woodlands and open plains to built-up urban areas, is one reason for their success as a species. Their diet is equally flexible, including berries, insects, and small rodents.
