Fishing couple save starving Arctic fox stranded on a precarious iceberg
Proving that humanity has perhaps not become extinct, a starving and cold Arctic fox found clinging to a teetering iceberg has been saved in a daring rescue by an eagle-eyed couple fishing for crabs.
The couple, Mallory Harrigan and her boyfriend Cliff Russell were recently four miles off mainland Labrador in William's Harbour, Canada, when they spotted what they thought was a baby seal.
However, upon closer inspection they found out that it was a starving and helpless Arctic fox stuck on the iceberg.
The kindhearted crew, which included Russell's son Alan, decided to attempt a daring rescue, using their vessel, the Northern Swan, to batter the iceberg.
They had to ram the ice to break it up, and then scoop the animal up from the cold water.
Speaking to Bored Panda, Harrigan said that the Arctic fox probably got stuck out there looking for a meal.
“He fought and fought to get away until he literally couldn’t move anymore,” she said.
Harrigan, who lives in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, explained that her boyfriend, who owns the Northern Swan, led the daring rescue to bring the stranded animal aboard.
Alan Russell, his son, caught him in the dip-net once we were able to get him in the water.
They fed him once he woke up.
After refusing to eat the bread and crackers the rescuers initially offered, the Arctic fox finally succumbed to another treat – a tin of Vienna sausages.
She added: 'We all then released him onto an island in our harbour.'
The crew dropped off the fox in a dog house on an island where Harrigan told vocm.com there were ponds and 'lots of little critters and stuff' to sustain it.
