Kajtek

Text written shortly after Kajtek was admitted to the Fox Asylum in December 2019 having been recovered by intervention from a fur farm in Zambrów:

You’ve been asking about Kajtek, so to start with, let me give you a handful of information from the last two weeks, which is how long Kajtek has been living at The Fox Asylum. I don’t know how broken and resigned he must have been at the fur farm. When he came into my keeping, he had already received good care at the vet clinic, so he had already had some goodcontact with humans. However, he took it for granted that  everything was meant to cause harm. He was fearful that he might run out of food – and what he would do wasn’t thecheerless burying for later that my other foxes would be practising when, having overeaten, they would instinctively prefer to bury the food only to stop another fox from gobbling it. Instead, he would be burying the food even though he was still hungry and really wanted to keep eating. I couldn’t walk into his enclosure with a rake to clean up because his terror was so  overwhelming. When I approached him, every  instrument in my hand was a potential enemy. The worst thing about it all was that he wouldn’t even try to defend himself. He was so terrified that he was just waiting to see what I would do to him. He had no idea that he just MIGHT fancy getting something. He didn’t know how to play or that other foxes could be so cheerful.

What helped us was Kajtek’s great curiosity about everything. With bated breath, he would be watching the other foxes rejoice
to see a human, greet each other and play around forcing me to get them what they wanted, or rebelling when I attempted to
chase them away during their scuffles. He would be watching the shows without comprehending what was happening.

We have lifted the spell from the rakes and from all sorts of objects. Now Kajtek will pick them up, take a look at or hop on them, and he knows they’re not a threat but something he can actually destroy. Like the other foxes, he has learnt how to eatfrom a spoon, so now if I am not around, anyone can give him his medication safely. Kajtek has learnt how to  pick the treats from my hand or out of my  pocket. And he has learnt something I am the  happiest about: he knows his rights! He has  the right to like or not like something,  damage things, have his whims, and want  more of something or nothing at all.

He uses his rights very keenly. Though he  keeps hiding his food, but now only what he’s  unable to eat which I will get out of his  hideouts the next day so he can stash away  his new items. I know he’s already eaten, as he isn’t hungry. For now, all he is doing with his  toys is carrying, concealing or putting them in their places, but his first attempts at tossing  them high are already there.

Today was the moment I opened Laura and Foksia’s enclosure, as their relationship was  very promising. Kajtek did a great job (as did  the girls, by the way). He tried chasing his  friends, but even though he is now walking  sensationally well compared to his first walks, he is still waaay behind the other foxes. He is super–sweet, enchanting, vulnerable, clumsy,  calm, innocent… he is amazing. His paws are  very crooked after several years of walking on cage bars; his fur sparse and still feels waxy;  his eyes still looking feeble, and his tail is  twisted due to neurological injuries (Foksia  had hers twisted exactly that way after a car  accident).

In a word, Kajtuś is a fantastic fox in a body that’s still disabled, but which, I hope,  together we will change so that soon you won’t be able to recognise him.

Do I need to add that I love him like crazy?