Cathedral of St. Paul rector Father John Ubel, right, stands with a veterinarian from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville who is holding a grey fox the priest discovered in the window well of the Cathedral May 14. The WRC, which does not typically rescue urban wildlife, came to the aid of the kit May 16. COURTESY FATHER UBEL

Father John Ubel spied an adult grey fox scurrying around the grounds of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul last week. The Cathedral rector took note of the urban vixen, but didn’t give it much more thought — until he found her kit in the Cathedral’s 15-foot window well late May 14. The baby fox had been crying and was starving.

“Now what? My inner St. Francis of Assisi wanted to help, but I was not about to lower myself down into the vast pit and chase around a young fox. I would surely have lost that game of tag! I decided to call for help,” he wrote in his column for the Cathedral’s May 22-23 bulletin, recounting the experience.

Father Ubel made a series of calls for aid in its rescue May 15, leaving messages and increasingly frustrated with a lack of response. Meanwhile he tried — unsuccessfully — to trap the animal, and fed it bananas and water. He finally connected with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota in Roseville. They first told him they weren’t a rescue organization, but when his other attempts to connect with wildlife rescue organizations turned fruitless, the WRC sent veterinarians Sunday evening.

A three-month old male grey fox kit is trapped in a Cathedral of St. Paul window well. Rector Father John Ubel arranged for its rescue May 15. COURTESY FATHER UBEL

When the WRC veterinarians arrived, the kit was weak, and, after coaxing the kit from the window well, the wildlife expert told Father Ubel she didn’t expect it to survive the night. But it did.

Father Ubel’s column for the bulletin includes a quote from the Catechism: “Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus, men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.”

He closes the column with a reference to a popular hymn: “All creatures of our God and King!”

A May 19 Facebook post from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center estimated that the grey fox (a male) was about three months old — meaning it was born earlier in the spring than usual.

“This Grey Fox kit’s parents didn’t read their species bio very carefully,” the post said. “Grey Fox typically have kits in May, after mating in February/March. They’re born a couple months after Red Fox kits.”

The post included a video of the fox wrapped in a brown towel and receiving a critical care feeding from a syringe, its pink tongue lapping up the liquid food. The post noted that when the fox arrived at the WRC, its blood pressure was so low it didn’t register on its devices, and that it is also suffering from high lead toxicity.

“Time will tell if the fox will survive the trauma his body is going through,” the post said. “Organ failure is a real threat but as every day go(es) by we hold out more hope for him. Many thanks to Fr. Ubel for everything he did to make sure this fox was rescued.”