When I see you again

Caring for people and other animals can take a toll

Three fox kits sprinted through the sun-soaked field of Fox-a-Lago, the secret wildlife sanctuary near Washington Park, as June began.

My friend and I captured the youngsters, two or maybe three months old, with one of the trailcams we’ve stationed there. We’d been waiting breathlessly for this new summer life; watching the bellies of other red-furred residents, which sometimes seemed to swell, sometimes seemed as taut as a gymnast’s abs.

But there they were, the fifth generation of this leash we’ve been following, running about, happy and healthy. For about 20 seconds. One short glimpse to assure us that the family endures.

We’ve not seen them since, on video or in person. They remain in hiding, as if wary of what we strange, furless things, with our big brains, are up to. I don’t blame them.

It’s inevitable that fox lovers like my friend and me would come to know who Mikayla Raines was: the First Lady of Fox Rescue. She was one of those fortunate people who had a clear vision of what she wanted to do — what her mission was — from a young age. At 20, after earning her rehab license, she founded and opened Minnesota's SaveAFox Rescue, a nonprofit animal sanctuary. For a near decade, she rescued wild animals, mostly foxes; some from fur farms, some surrenders from people who had to learn the hard way that foxes are not good pets. Some were healthy, some sick or injured. She loved them all.

Two in particular, DixieDo and Finnegan Fox, became her friends and rambunctious companions.

She found a supportive partner in her husband, Ethan Frankamp, and they instilled their love of wildlife in their daughter, Freya.

Being young and savvy, Mikayla learned to take advantage of social media — like YouTube, where SaveAFox has 2.4 million subscribers, and a single video can rack up tens of thousands of comments — to raise her nonprofit’s profile and garner support, financial and otherwise. She regularly posted videos of rescued foxes galivanting through the SaveAFox campus, revealing sparkling personalities.

She taught the world that foxes could laugh.

She nurtured a sort of symbiotic relationship with one unnamed fur farm in particular; when its owners deemed a fox commercially unviable, perhaps because of some perceived flaw in its coat, they’d call Mikayla and ask if she wanted it.

She always did.

A couple of years ago, the farm’s owners decided to close their unsavory business, and offered to sell it to Mikayla — 500 foxes, cages, equipment, everything — for $700,000.

These were foxes that could not survive in the wild; their entire lives had been spent in captivity. They could only be kept in safe sanctuaries.

Mikayla didn’t have the money for this monumental undertaking, but she set about raising it. She’d buy the foxes in bundles as funds became available and take them either to SaveAFox or to other sanctuaries. The wildlife rescue world rallied around Mikayla for this special mission, saving, at last report, 400 of the captive foxes.

By now you’ve noticed that I’m referring to Mikayla in the past tense. One day last week, she ended her life. She was only 29.

Animal rescue and rehab is already a challenging way of life. Rescue work demands facilities, equipment, medication, veterinary care, certification, all expensive. The hours are demanding: Some animals, especially babies, require 24-hour care to survive. Being wild, they’re not especially cooperative or appreciative of the care offered. Many animals fail to recover from injury or poor health, leaving care providers in puddles of tears. It’s not unusual for rehabbers to become burnt out, to find it necessary to withdraw to save their own health and sanity.

Few federal or state funds are available for rehabbers. Patrons are essential.

Mikayla faced all of that and more, including autism and struggles with borderline personality disorder.

Then there were the online bullies, who were vicious and relentless. Ethan assigns them much of the blame for Mikayla’s distress.

I don’t know the particulars of the abuse Mikayla faced, but I know the abuse that exists. Some springs from insecure young men who think any female online is a threat to their manliness. Some are “First Amendment absolutists,” who believe their task in life is to make terms like “retard” and the N-word so common that there’s no sense in objecting to them. “You’re ugly” is their idea of an intellectual argument.

Some are simply mean, ignorant trolls.

Some, astoundingly, were colleagues of Mikayla’s, fellow rehabbers.

Mikayla literally saved the lives of more foxes than any other rehabber in the arena. But the same sensitivity that led her to care for animals made her vulnerable to criticism, no matter how crude or unjust.

And she remained vulnerable to the loss of every animal that failed to recover from ill health or injury.

At some point, she lost the ability to bounce back.

I hope Mikayla found peace in her final moments. I wish she’d found the wherewithal to stay with us.

But I don’t condemn her for her choice. This world is too harsh for some caring souls — and some are working to make it even worse.

The rest of us must step up.

Ethan has vowed to keep SaveAFox alive, but even with the heightened publicity — several mainstream media agencies have reported on the loss of Mikayla — it’ll be a struggle. It’s a sign of an unbalanced society that people like Mikayla and Ethan must beg for financial support while some idiot can waste $2.5 million on a Michael Jordan trading card.

But this is where we are, so I’m going to do my part. From noon to 6 pm next Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6, you can find me at Bookmarks bookstore in downtown Winston-Salem. I’ll be selling my fox art, with every cent going to SaveAFox Rescue.

Warren and Hilda will make a personal appearance.

I’ll have my laptop to play video footage from Fox-a-Lago.

Maybe we’ll have music. Maybe snacks.

Of course, you don’t need me to do your part:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/honor-mikaylas-legacy-help-save-a-fox-sanctuary-thrive

But come on by and say hi.

Back at Fox-a-Lago, these three kits will never be caged. They’ll live as they should: running, hunting, playing, exploring a wild setting that, with hope, will protect them.

I don’t know that they’ll ever show themselves to us again, so this may be premature, but I’ve already named them:

Ethan, Freya and Mikayla.

…..

Overflow:

Foxes can laugh!

Learn more about Mikayla:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2025/06/26/mikayla-raines-death-mother/84355907007/

Learn about SaveAFox:

https://www.saveafox.org/rescues

https://www.youtube.com/@Saveafox

Learn about the terrible people trying to revive the N-word:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/shiloh-hendrix-n-word-conservatives/

Don’t despair; reach out — this should be Mikayla’s deepest legacy:

https://www.today.com/health/news/youtube-star-mikayla-raines-29-dies-suicide-bullying-rcna214973

You may have heard that my friend Casper went on a walkabout a few days ago. There’s a candle in the window and some treats in a bowl. Seba and I are waiting for him.

From 4:30 to 6 pm every Monday, a group gathers on the Green Street pedestrian bridge to express our desire for a better world. In addition, beginning this week, a group will gather from 7:30 to 9 am every Tuesday. Come join us!

If you need something to read, my first book, “Stardust and Scar Tissue,” is available from Bookmarks, Book Ferret, The Eclectible Shop and from the publisher, Press 53.

My newer book, “Tiny Sliver of a Moon” is available from Bookmarks, Book Ferret, The Eclectible Shop and the trunk of my car.

Carry on:

Hang in there, friends, and I will, too. See you soon.