{"id":44858,"date":"2025-07-07T02:23:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T02:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/44858\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T02:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T02:23:11","slug":"russian-foxes-arrive-in-san-diego-after-violent-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/44858\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian foxes arrive in San Diego after violent trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Alexei, a 1-year-old fox who was rescued from a cramped cage in a Russian research facility, smiles at his new home in Santa Ysabel on June 28. (Photo by Johnny Devecka)<\/p>\n

Four Russian foxes have safely arrived in their new home of San Diego County after surviving cramped cages, war zones and a missile attack on their yearlong route to rescue.<\/p>\n

When animal conservationist Amy Bassett first heard that four rare baby foxes were spending their lives in cramped cages at a research facility in the middle of Siberia, she promised to be their \u201cmama bear.\u201d <\/p>\n

She pledged to save them before the facility might euthanize them by bringing them to her wildlife paradise in Santa Ysabel \u2014 the Judith A. Bassett Canid Education and Conservation Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bassett had rescued a dozen foxes<\/a> like the foursome before. But she never expected that Alexei, Anya Besha, Lyudmila and Valentina Maria\u2019s homecoming would be a yearlong fight that would ensnare her and the foursome in two wars, geopolitical chess and an Iranian missile strike.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One-year-old Russian domesticated fox Lyudmila, nicknamed \u201cMillie,\u201d stands out as the only platinum-colored fox in the foursome. (Photo by Johnny Devecka)<\/p>\n

But she kept fighting, and just in time for July 4, Bassett made good on her promise. The foxes arrived at their new home, now with the freedom to run, play and live their lives outside of a cramped cage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no man gets left behind,\u201d Bassett said. \u201cWe promised these four that we would give them a forever home and a life with purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like I had no choice but to honor my commitment to them because if I failed anywhere along the line, they may be killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Route to rescue<\/p>\n

Bassett thought by the time her foxes were onboard their flight from Moscow to their new home in California two weeks ago that the hard part was over.<\/p>\n

After a year of fighting the shipping restrictions the U.S. and Russia had thrown at each other, she had finally won her foxes a passage to safety.<\/p>\n

Then, the missiles started dropping. The moment they did, Bassett knew.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The foxes traveled on the long flight from Moscow to California for days in small crates. Iran\u2019s missile attack on Qatar made the flight stretch on much longer than expected. (Photo by Johnny Devecka)<\/p>\n

She had stayed up all night tracking the foxes\u2019 flight, watching as the small dot traveled closer and closer to her. The plane was set for a layover in Qatar.<\/p>\n

But as the plane traveled toward the gulfside country, Iran dropped over a dozen missiles<\/a> on a U.S. military base near Qatar\u2019s typically quiet capital city of Doha on June 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy foxes are literally flying in the air to Qatar,\u201d Bassett recalled thinking as she helplessly watched the flight tracker. \u201cWe had no idea at that point what was going to happen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The foxes landed in Qatar unscathed, but the journey wasn\u2019t over.<\/p>\n

Officials weren\u2019t allowing any planes to take off from Qatar due to the missiles, so the foxes awaited their fates in small crates without water. That all changed when Bassett found out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lyudmila licks water through her crate. Once Bassett heard that the foxes weren\u2019t being given water as their plane waited for Qatar\u2019s airspace to open back up, she successfully pushed for the foxes to be given water through syringes. (Photo by Johnny Devecka)<\/p>\n

\u201cI was mama bear yelling at everybody from Qatar \u2014\u00a0everyone, everywhere,\u201d Bassett said.<\/p>\n

The next day, Qatar\u2019s airspace opened up, and the foxes\u2019 journey to freedom resumed. Two days later, they came home for the first time.<\/p>\n

New home<\/p>\n

The first time Bassett met the foxes in person when they finally landed at Los Angeles International Airport, they were skinny and scared as strangers surrounded them.<\/p>\n

Over the entire year she had spent fighting for the foxes, Bassett had never been able to meet them in Siberia<\/a> because of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. But Bassett wasn\u2019t a stranger to the four foxes for long once they met.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bassett said 1-year-old Anya Besha, is one of the friendliest out of the four foxes, along with her brother, Alexei. (Photo by Johnny Devecka)<\/p>\n

The foursome are a rare type of Russian fox specifically bred by researchers to love human interaction. Unlike the sly, conniving and flighty archetypes that foxes typically take on in fairy tales and folklore, Russian domesticated foxes act almost like friendly lap dogs.<\/p>\n

Two weeks since they\u2019ve moved to California, the foursome have gradually begun to come out of their shells as Bassett and her team give them the love, time and space to recover from the lifetimes they\u2019ve spent deprived of human interaction. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Amy Bassett hugs Alexei, who she said loves belly rubs and attention the most out of the foursome. He and the other Russian domesticated foxes rescued by Bassett\u2019s conservation center have started to adjust to human interaction. (Photo by Johnny Devecka)<\/p>\n

After the foxes spend a few months recovering, they may one day get to do what they love most \u2014\u00a0play and interact with the public. Once they\u2019re comfortable, the foursome may join the conservation center\u2019s hands-on meet and greets<\/a>, where San Diegans will get the chance to pet, play, observe and learn about Russian domesticated foxes.<\/p>\n

But for now, the foxes are just enjoying their new home \u2014 and the endless treats, toys, cuddles and love Bassett and her team give them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll just see how their personalities start to shine and come out,\u201d Bassett said. \u201cThey tell us who they want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conservation center is currently taking donations from the public to build larger enclosures for the foxes on its website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Members of the public can also sponsor<\/a> one of the four foxes, which pays for the fox\u2019s food, veterinary care, treats and toys. Sponsorships range from $50 for a month to $450 for a year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexei, a 1-year-old fox who was rescued from a cramped cage in a Russian research facility, smiles at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,34828,1582,276,34829,224,6673,34830,3549,7264,34831,34832,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-44858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-amy-bassett","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-judith-a-bassett-canid-education-and-conservation-center","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-qatar","15":"tag-russian-foxes","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-sandiego","18":"tag-santa-ysabel","19":"tag-siberia","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114809576229087713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}