By Courtney Wright
Meet Zorra
Live animals spark wonder.
They inspire curiosity and care for the amazing creatures we share the world with.
Because of that, Wolf Ridge is thrilled to be home to 18 ambassador animals who serve as co-teachers in many of our classes and programs. We are even more thrilled to be sharing the news that we have recently welcomed a new ambassador to our wildlife team….Zorra the silver-phase red fox!
Zorra’s History
Zorra comes to us from a wildlife rehabilitation center in Wisconsin, where she was originally admitted in 2016. She was found with a collar and leash around her neck and exhibited curious and tame behaviors around humans. It can be safely assumed that Zorra was raised by humans and therefore has lost her ability to live in the wild. If we were to release her, the chances of her survival are slim because she no longer has the proper skills to hunt live prey and she may not react to possible dangers like a wild fox should.
Ode to Thistle
Many who have visited Wolf Ridge remember Thistle, the spunky and often opinionated porcupine, from their Animal Signs class. Although she has big shoes to fill, it has been a joy to observe Zorra already beginning to facilitate student learning in her first few days as our Animal Signs co-teacher. Students have the rare opportunity to observe how a fox moves throughout the landscape, how they benefit from their physical and behavioral adaptations, the shape, size (and smell) of the signs foxes leave behind; Zorra creates a story in front of our eyes to help us connect the animal signs we may find in the woods to a living, breathing creature.
Red foxes are omnivores, eating a variety of small mammals, berries, nuts, insects, and eggs.
With Easter right around the corner, we thought we would provide eggs for Zorra to create her own Easter egg hunt! In this video, you can see her find and cache chicken eggs dyed with beets and cabbage, as well as her discovering a cardboard egg with a tasty treat inside.
We look forward to introducing you all to Zorra very soon. In the meantime, enjoy watching Zorra as she enjoys her first Easter egg hunt at Wolf Ridge!
Happy Easter!
Zorra
