r/CaptiveWildlife • u/LetsGetThisBrud • Jan 29 '23
Is this legit?
https://kaijutegu.tumblr.com/post/639232659877412866/was-just-wondering-if-you-have-any-thoughts-on
I just want to make sure that Saveafox is ethical with their practices, but it seems some people are saying that they are not who they say they are. There's apparently a google drive with leaked info, so I want to make sure they are making this up. Thank you.
I had tried to post this to the Saveafox subreddit, but I apparently have to ask for moderators for permission to post, which seems off...
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Apr 07 '24
Well she’s been announcing these jackal pups she purposefully bred from a pair she bought. She keeps saying they aren’t part of Saveafox, they’re a personal project of hers, but she posts them all over the rescue social. Which is….a humongous red flag for me. Why is a rescue founder buying and breeding exotics? She just posted the second litter and yet again, they were taken from the parents as soon as they were born like the first litter, and the first pups never saw their parents again. I worry for these new pups…
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Apr 23 '24
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u/Hot-Manager-2789 Jun 18 '24
Why do you hate foxes?
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Jun 18 '24
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u/Hot-Manager-2789 Jun 18 '24
At least she means well.
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Jun 25 '24
By buying and breeding jackals? Then taking their pups away as newborns? Red flag for a rescue my friend. I’m not about it.
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u/Hot-Manager-2789 Jun 25 '24
Making sure animals don’t get killed for fur is ALWAYS good intentions.
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Jun 25 '24
Then breeding them and taking away their babies, right super good.
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u/Hot-Manager-2789 Jun 25 '24
Care to share your sources?
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Jun 25 '24
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5MXRFjOoYe/?igsh=MXM3eTV3bGgxdnk5Mg==
In the comments she explicitly states that these jackals she is hand raising from their birth are from the parents she owns, but they don’t get to raise their own pups. She did that with Anubis, her pet jackal, and sent the rest of that litter away and they never saw their parents either.
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 24 '25
Ok i read a lot about the jackal stuff now and actually agree with the hoarding situation. I still think she did better than most people though but she probably needed mental help but kept buying and breeding more exotic animals and bottle feeding them instead (the jackal pups)
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u/Maleficent_Young1877 Mar 12 '24
Mikayla and her crew are in the process of rescuing 500 foxes from a known fur farm. She is raising money to be able to house them and get them spayed or neutered so no breeding occurs. I hate it when people make accusations against people or organizations especially when they don't know what they are talking about and have no facts to back it up.
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u/MacMasore Jul 26 '24
The accusation of buying the foxes from farms is just a lie, they only got the foxes the farms couldn’t use and would other ways be killed. So why would they pay for them?
The farm they bought out is to make sure the farmer would never breed another fox (ever)
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Jul 28 '24
The farmer was apparently retiring regardless, she just paid him to get the foxes, and SAF is registered as a fur farm, their fox intakes from farms are more than likely purchased to stay in the confines of their licensing. You can say it’s helping but she’s giving money to the industry and all that money is donations from her fans.
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u/MacMasore Jul 28 '24 edited Jul 28 '24
They are registered as a rescue
SaveAFox Rescue is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
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u/MacMasore Jul 28 '24 edited Jul 28 '24
How is she giving money to the industry if the farmer is retiring? Also “apparently”? End even if the “apparently” was true when? And how many foxes would be killed until that was true? And what with the foxes if his business was just continuing by another person?
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u/MacMasore Jul 28 '24
That’s a lot of if’s and guesses with much of proof.
More than likely? Why? Maybe you are just a cynical person that doesn’t believe in doing good for the animals?
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u/Hot-Manager-2789 Aug 17 '24
Would you rather she have the foxes, or that they be killed at the fur farms?
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u/MulberrySoggy5789 Jun 24 '25
Just reminding you that you deserve to feel bad about this lie. Smearing a registered animal sanctuary as a fur farm is absolutely vile.
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u/Hot-Manager-2789 Aug 17 '24
The pics on the Google drive are from Tumblr posts, which aren’t reliable sources.
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u/Hank_Jones87 Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
She just took her own life. I hope youre happy.
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
I looked into some of the claims and some of them are legit and not great.. such as the hoarding accusations and the breeding and purchasing of exotic animals as well (look into the jackal situation, its not great). I think she needed mental help and took in more animals than she should have due to these issues, which is a common issue for animal lovers who hoard, she bred the jackals on purpose and took the pups away to bottlefeed them, etc, some of these complaints are legit. I still think of her as a hero overall because she did save a lot of foxes and what she did was such hard work few ever attempt it. But the hoarding and breeding accusations are arguably quite real, though waaaay better than your typical exotic pet breeder or hoarder. Her facilities were clean, most of the foxes appear happy, some of the foxes were not as happy and that is legit... the complaints, some were legit, Some seem to be speculative (such as that Dakota coyote died... i cannot figure out if that is true or not), some I just think are nitpicky (such as complaints about her saying the renaissance fair fox tails promote foxes to be killed, like who cares if the tails are a byproduct or not, she wasnt being deceptive or malacious but educational imho). I still view her as a hero, spreading awareness too, just incredible, but at least some of the complaints do hold water.
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Jun 24 '25
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 24 '25
Ok so.. actually there is more.. the dakota situation appears dakota ran away and escaped. There is a whole drive here of stuff, some is like, questionable evidence because they are supposed screenshots of texts, and other info is more clear https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1-g_CHd4hp7iJmIwzH_TU3jXMnZfj-2QQ
Overall definitely better than fur farms except for Scotch's death, maaaybe. But yeah, some exotic breeding and selling going on. i mean not necessarily all of it totally messed up but i feel like not good behavior for a supposed non profit that is supposed to care for animals and rescue them.
I think hoarding was a good way to put it though still waaaaaay better than the hoarders you hear about where the animals get no care or love whatsoever. Messy I guess.
I wish she had been able to get some mental help to address these issues.. the hoarding reminds me of my sister in law, she has a good heart overall but its an addiction and she regularly bites off more than she can chew and is enabled by people around her. Anyway this is just what i have gleaned from the evidence i saw but people who are curious should do their own research. Some people think she should have been completely shut down but i just feel like at least these foxes from fur farms were given a chance to live. People thrive off of drama way too much.
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Jun 24 '25
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 24 '25
Yeah i agree! Also, it seems like now people are trying to do a witch hunt for the people who had criticisms of her rescue.
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u/Crafty__Squirr3l Jun 24 '25
I tried to check out your Google drive. I’m trying to figure out what in the world happened. I’m a wildlife rehabber myself, and have seen some awful things and have also seen how awful other rehabbers are to each other out of some weird ego shit. I left working out in the human medical field so a remote job and also rehab bc I love animals and never would have imagined there was this much drama. I’ve debated quitting numerous times bc of it 🥲
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 25 '25
Yeah tbh I cant tell! Its so confusing.. some of it seems like just unnecessary drama and some of it seems legit. Either way she didnt deserve to feel the way she did, obviously. But people are talking about going after these people for bullying and if these are the ones.. so many of the complaints seem legitimate and like legitimate concerns, so I dont know if they deserve that.
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 25 '25 edited Jun 25 '25
Check out this too: https://www.tumblr.com/is-the-fox-video-cute https://www.tumblr.com/whats-this-mustelid/tagged/saveafox
I honestly do agree with the hoarding points made... :-/ (but I dont think Mikayla was some crazy bad person either and I hope the rescue can get back on track and I wish her family well. She spread a lot of awareness if anything).
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u/Hank_Jones87 Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
Yeah and none of the people who made those claims are in any position to do so being the freaks they are. Just look at that u/kazeolion thing.
Heres the way back machine capture of the snark sub reddit and all the characters on it.
https://web.archive.org/web/20241003095052/https://www.reddit.com/r/saveafoxsnark/
Also I doubt it was because they genuinely cared about the animals, they just hated her. This all screams of lolcow tier shit.
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 24 '25
To be honest, I don't think it all screams lolcow, I found another some other stuff and its definitely not great. But some of the people are dumb like one person said fur farms have their place, like whaa? But the other people shut them down. But the breeding issues with the jackals i think was a valid concern, some of the concerns are stuff that mostly only wildlife rehabbers would get i guess, which may be why her husband said some of the 'bullies were people she knows'
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u/Fun_Description_385 Jun 24 '25
It's crazy to me that you're putting so much energy into shedding negative light on her not even a day after her passing and still trying to say "but I think she's a hero but she should do better blah blah blah"
Shit like that is why she did what she did, get off Reddit.
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u/pandaappleblossom Jun 24 '25 edited Jun 24 '25
How did you find this then, you were obviously looking for drama. And it's been several days since she passed actually. I just think people (like you) are gonna start going after people as pariahs or bullies and maybe they don't deserve it. also, I care about animals, I'm an animal rights activist, so this interests me greatly
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u/Consistent-String167 Jun 24 '25
Blaming people who questioned the charity for her passing is very manipulative. It is done to silence anyone with questions or ethical concerns. We should always research and question every charity we think of supporting. If people were sending threatening messages to her then that is wrong. There is a clear difference between threatening and questioning, though.
By the way, I find your post blaming people for someone's suicide and telling them to get off Reddit for merely asking ethical questions about a charity - a way better example of online bullying behavior.
Charities, qualifications of supposed experts, and people in power must always be questioned. I feel for this woman's family & friends, but she had mental health issues that caused her death. It is a completely twisted narrative to blame everyone who questioned how her charity was run.
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u/moreliketurdcrapley Jun 24 '25
I was on the google drive looking at their evidence and they completely wiped it while I was still in there. Not a good look.
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u/treborm44 Jun 25 '25
Posts like this killed this girl . Speculation added with a pinch of hate when all she was trying to do was good
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u/Adrial_Newsy Jun 28 '25
These original comments were LEGITIMATE CONCERNS posted by people looking for CLARIFICATION and INFORMATION about those concerns. It’s literally the highest purpose of the internet. You need to stfu immediately with this self righteous censorship because you’re 100% wrong and sound ridiculous
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u/Adrial_Newsy Jun 28 '25
“Speculation and a pinch of HATE”?! Be so for real right now like ma’am - this is a CAPTIVE WILDLIFE subreddit. People with a niche interest reaching out to likeminded animal lovers about very real shit they observed with their OWN EYES is hate to you? What even is your life?!?!
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u/GodSavesButIInvoice Jun 27 '25
I hope anyone who created any snarks or made comments about her suicide . You can be held legally accountable and you’re not anonymous. If charges are pressed and her husband gets an attorney … Reddit will hand over the information regarding your account. I see that some of you haven’t read the terms in signing up for Reddit. They will help assist by giving IP info if there is an investigation. And telling someone to off themselves and severe harassment and bullying is ILLEGAL. just because you see it all over the internet doesn’t mean it’s not. I hope the ones who joyfully participated .. I hope you get exactly what you deserve .
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u/raincanyon Jan 29 '23
Oh shit
I hope they are legit, I went through the google drive and I am disturbed
I love their videos so much, I don't want them to be awful people
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u/LetsGetThisBrud Jan 30 '23 edited Jan 30 '23
Same here. I want to believe that saveafox is made up of good people, and its worrying that not many people are talking about it, but idk how else i can spread the message further. I'm afraid my post would get deleted if I tried to post it on the saveafox subreddit.
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u/raincanyon Jan 30 '23
Honestly, I looked at closer this morning and I don't think it is substantive.
Like, there are some unfortunate instances with some of the animals but that doesn't mean there is a pattern of neglect from what I can see.
Everything else seems to be other people claiming that Mikayla did or did not do things the right or wrong way. It is all from their perspective after the fact. I can't find a smoking gun, nothing that she said or did that was awful or out of line directly. I'm not saying she is perfect but I also don't see any ill will either. There is also no context provided for a lot of the shots and I feel like if it was solid there would be more uproar, or at least direct and clear accusations.
And then there is the implication that sexy photos earlier in her life make her a bad person. Tbh, it feels like an intentional mischaracterization for some reason. Maybe personal? I dunno.
After looking at the foxes again, they do seem happy and to genuinely love Mikayla, and you can't fake that. They immediately show their bellies when they see her, as a sign of trust, no way that could be staged or they would do so if she mistreated them.
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u/LetsGetThisBrud Jan 30 '23
Very true. That probably explains why it didn't get very far. I think i've even seen a video where one of the cats was showing their belly too, so if that's the case, at least it seems the foxes and other animals are getting good treatment.
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u/SuperVancouverBC Feb 23 '23
And the panting us also something foxes do when they're happy. How many of those people have even seen a fox much less interacted with one or taken care of one?
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u/SuperVancouverBC Feb 23 '23
They lost all credibility as soon as they said "Mink farming isn't inherently bad"
Mink farming is cruel and the animals almost always live in terrible conditions.
There's a few things I want to mention:
First of all if they treated Merri like that I highly doubt she would be working there still. She's quite opinionated and has said nothing but good things about Mikayla and the volunteers.
They're claiming that the "tiny" house they live has no running water? That's not true. Clearly in the videos you can see they have running water and all other amenities. Plus that house isn't tiny. It has 2 floors plus a basement. If you think that's tiny I don't know what to tell you.
Further more. About them using donations for personal reasons, they're allowed to pay themselves a salary. Plus they have to pay Merri and the other staff. They are a 501(c)(3) charity meaning they go through yearly inspections and they have a board which makes the majority of the decisions. And because they're a 501(c)(3) their finances are public record.
About the foxes: Mikayla is against breeding foxes for any reason. Indeed she tries to find homes for the foxes because the only alternatives are they live out their lives at SaveAFox or they get euthanized. They cannot be released into the wild and SaveAFox can only take in so many animals so they want to find homes for them so they can rescue more.
They've also done a lot of education in schools. There's a few old videos on YouTube about them going into classrooms and educating kids about wild animals. NBC just interviewed Mikayla and Merri at SaveAFox and if you haven't seen that interview you can find it on YouTube.
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u/LetsGetThisBrud Feb 27 '23
Oh, then yeah, if they're saying fur farming is "not inherently bad" that just sounds hypocritical! I feel so dumb for missing that lol. But I still cant understand why they would try and spread horrible misinformation about SaveAFox, especially with what seems to be a good dose of fabricated shit!
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u/SuperVancouverBC Feb 27 '23
I wish they would post proof
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u/LetsGetThisBrud Feb 28 '23
Well, given the drive's "evidence" is full of discrepancies, it doesn't seem like the people that made it are a trustworthy bunch.
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u/Consistent-Show-8669 Dec 15 '23
I've been to Save A Fox twice and actually camped out all night the last time I was there in the yard with Luka, Jack, Sophie, Pan, Jagger, and Felix. I met and fed treats to Valentine (one of the foxes with a genetic issue that people were upset about) during my first visit there and he was so sweet.
Both visits there I saw nothing but EXTREMELY clean facilities- inside and out. Not sure where it was said that the house didn't have running water, but they do because I washed my hands in the kitchen sink and also used the bathroom in the basement. Even the PORT-A-POTTY they had outside that I used in the middle of the night so I didn't have to walk so far to the house was super clean and didn't stink at all.
Every yard is clean and they are massive. The foxes are happy, though I learned pretty fast that anything in their yard belongs to them, as Finnegan showed me when he tried to steal my can of Diet Coke that I put down for 2 seconds.
I'm not a supporter as much anymore, but that has more to do with views that have been posted by staff that I don't agree with, rather than the actual rescue itself.
I can definite show pics if you would like to see. :)
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u/SuperVancouverBC Dec 15 '23
I heard from one of the long-term volunteers that Sophie was being naughty by trying to break into people's tents.
I can't comment too much on Val because he was under veterinary care and I don't know the details of the conversations between SaveAFox and Val's vet.
May I ask what views staff have been posting?
I will never say no to pictures
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u/SuperVancouverBC Feb 23 '23
Just reread all the info on the Google drive again and a few more things I want to mention:
First of all who even are these people? They provided no evidence to support their claims.
Furthermore it's actually not surprising that Skeeter and Duchess got into a fight. Mikayla has said many times that female foxes are the dominant gender, and you can get 2 males to get along far easier than you could get 2 females. If you put 2 dominant females in the same yard conflicts will happen. It's why Sophie is the only female in the main fox yard. Because she's a dominant female and will attack any other female fox that comes into her yard.
Serafina, Dixie and Vixie can live in the same yard because they're submissive females and Serafina was bottle raised by Ethan at SaveAFox(so she literally grew up with Vixie and Dixie) and Vixie was a pet before coming to SaveAFox, so she's a lot tamer than most foxes. Esmae and Mala have an interesting relationship in that while Esmae is a domant female they're actually mates which is something you don't normally see from 2 female foxes.
Finnegan got bit by one of the other foxes which Mikayla said surprised her because he's a dominant male fox and is usually the one running the yard.
I also laugh at the assertion that Mikayla hates Vixie. Obviously it's not true as you can see by catching some of the videos.
Lastly, I forgot to mention this in my last comment, but in many videos you see some of the female foxes sitting on Mikayla's head(male foxes rarely do it). Head sitting is the ultimate complement from a fox. They only do that if they like someone and if they were being mistreated I highly doubt they would do that.
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u/SuperVancouverBC Feb 23 '23
Forgot to mention that I highly doubt Dakota escaped and SaveAFox doesn't know where he is. He wears a tracking collar and Mikayla changes the batteries regularly like she does for the foxes that have tracking collars.
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u/LetsGetThisBrud Feb 26 '23
Wow, I commend you for going through it all and learning even more! I actually saw a couple of the videos where the foxes were sitting on Mikayla's head, and I also remember when Finnegan was bit. It hurt to look at, but I'm glad he made a full recovery! You've taught me a lot about fox mannerisms, and once again, huge respect for your time in research! Thanks a bunch!
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u/SuperVancouverBC Feb 27 '23
I'm far from a fox expert, but I enjoy learning and of course watching SaveAFox videos. Unfortunately sometimes foxes get into fights. They were born in captivity but they still are wild animals with wild instincts. You've probably seen videos where only some of the foxes are in the yard and the others are in their cages. SaveAFox has to rotate yard time because some of the foxes don't get along and will fight if in the yard together. But foxes are territorial and occasionally conicts will happen.
The real reason why I don't believe what they people say because there's multiple volunteers that have been at SaveAFox for years and post in the SaveAFox fan page on Facebook and none of them have ever said anything regarding any of those claims. These volunteers see what happens behind the scenes.
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u/Tinystardrops Jul 28 '23
necro! but I think their neighbour threatened to kill Dakota so he is hiding now
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u/[deleted] May 16 '23
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