What:
How a male arctic fox stowed away in a trash container en route to Seattle from an Aleutian island remains a mystery, but today he’s under excellent animal care at Woodland Park Zoo. The stowaway survivor, estimated to be 3 to 5 years old, will undergo a biopsy at the zoo for further evaluation of a skin mass discovered during an earlier examination.

The fox is suspected to have inadvertently entered a container used to transport trash from the tiny, remote Aleutian island of Shemya and was discovered last month at the Port of Seattle. He has been off view in quarantine at the animal health hospital where zoo animal health staff conducted a physical examination to assess his overall health. The animal appears to be in reasonably good health, although a bit underweight, and is undergoing treatment for ear mites. He has a very hearty appetite, devouring everything offered such as frozen quail and frozen mice.

When:
Wednesday, June 23, 2004, 10:00 a.m. The exam will last 45 mins. to an hour.

Where:
Woodland Park Zoo’s Animal Health Complex. Enter through the South Gate parking lot at N. 50th St. & Fremont Ave. N. Drive straight through the road that winds north of the Rose Garden. It is the first building on the left.

Other Info:
The standard quarantine period of 30 days for new arrivals at the zoo has been extended for the fox to 90 days as an extra precaution to allow staff to watch for any clinical signs consistent with rabies and other latent infectious disease. At this time, given the unknown history of the fox, it will not be returned to the wild and will most likely remain at the zoo, which currently does not have arctic foxes in its animal collection.

The Arctic fox, weighing 6 to 10 pounds, is a furry mammal that lives in the far north, in the tundra, and coastal areas of North America, Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia and Siberia. Found farther north than any other land mammal, it travels more extensively than any terrestrial animal other than humans. The arctic fox has a gray or blue coat in the summer and a thick, warm white coat in the winter. In the summer, the fox feeds primarily on lemmings, other rodents, fish, birds and even berries. In the winter, it may follow wolves or polar bears in hopes of eating scraps left behind. While the demand for fox fur is down over recent years, the average is about 4,000 pelts per year in Alaska.

Accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association, top award-winning Woodland Park Zoo is famed for pioneering naturalistic exhibits and setting a standard for zoos all over the world. With conservation, education and excellent animal care at the core of the zoo’s mission, the zoo is helping to save endangered species in Washington state and around the world including tree kangaroos, snow leopards, red-crowned cranes, African wild dogs, western pond turtles and Oregon silverspot butterflies. By inspiring visitors and others to care and act, Woodland Park Zoo is making a difference in our planet’s future.