You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up
A juvenile gray fox had managed to get herself trapped in the skylight of a SLO home.
When homeowners Rick and Jo Anne Miller heard a noise during the night, they “gave little
thought to it,” Rick says. But in the morning, when they found debris on the kitchen floor, they
looked up “to see a large furry animal.” They called County Animal Control and were directed to
call Pacific Wildlife Care if the animal was alive. They weren’t sure. Then the furry animal
moved her legs.
PWC called Cal Fire and dispatched Rescue/Transport volunteer Mark Trunnell to the site.
Trunnell arrived within an hour, followed within minutes by Fire Captain Lieberman and
Engineer Uschman from Avila Beach Fire Station 62.
Up on the roof, they determined that only the tail was caught in the mechanism of the skylight.
But freeing the fox proved a challenging operation, Trunnell explains. It involved one firefighter
on the roof with a pry bar to open the skylight; the other on a ladder in the kitchen to catch the
fox when she was freed; and Trunnell standing below with the carrier into which the fox was
successfully lowered. Relief all around!
At the PWC clinic, the fox was given subcutaneous fluids and a physical exam, including
radiographs, which revealed no injuries. Volunteer Kelly Cherry was recruited to release Gray
Fox 26-2633 back to her territory in the wild. Jo Anne Miller had one request: “Please just don’t
release her on the roof.” Cherry did not. In less than a day from the beginning of the ordeal, the
fox ran off through the underbrush, free again.
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