The gray fox as photographed by Joel Sartore of National Geographic for the magazine’s Photo Ark project promoting conservation of animals. COPYRIGHT JOEL SARTORE | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK

The desperate cries of an animal in distress haunted Father John Ubel for an entire weekend last spring. They first reached his ears from a window well at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul May 14, 2021. He was strolling the grounds on a Friday evening when the shrill noise startled him. 

It turned out to be the pleas of a 3-month-old male gray fox separated from its mother. At first, he ignored the sound, and continued walking. But, something inside him wouldn’t let him forget what he had heard.  

The whines greeted him the next morning, and this time he decided to investigate. He walked over to a window well where the sound was coming from and discovered the orphaned animal. The fox appeared to be in pain, and Father Ubel knew the abandoned juvenile, called a kit, would not be able to scale the window well’s 15-foot wall to escape its plight. 

This grim reality tugged on the Cathedral rector’s heart. 

“Animals feel pain, they sense danger and experience fear,” Father Ubel wrote in an email to The Catholic Spirit about the experience. “All this was present in this confused little animal. He captured my heart, and frankly, I worried about this animal all weekend long.” 

In this file photo, Cathedral of St. Paul rector Father John Ubel, right, stands with a veterinarian from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville, who is holding the gray fox the priest discovered in the window well of the Cathedral May 14. COURTESY FATHER UBEL

Those strong emotions sparked a journey for the young fox that led to a photo shoot by a National Geographic photographer and its eventual release into the wild in northern Minnesota in the fall. 

After calling the City of St. Paul throughout the weekend of May 15 and 16, but not hearing back, Father Ubel later turned to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville. On that Sunday evening, a veterinarian and veterinary technician from the WRC pulled the fox out of the window well. Generally, the WRC doesn’t perform rescues, but made an exception in this case, said Tami Vogel, its communications director. 

At first, WRC staff told Father Ubel the fox likely wouldn’t make it. But the center’s critical care protocol eventually stabilized the kit, which was severely emaciated. As the fox recovered, Vogel contacted National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore, who has been photographing wildlife in North America and around the world for the last 25 years. He has photographed 12,000 species so far, which are on display online at nationalgeographic.org/projects/photo-ark. Photos Sartore took of the fox were posted on the Photo Ark website within the last one to two months, according to his staff. 

As it turned out, at the time Sartore was called, he had not yet photographed a gray (or “grey”) fox. 

“The juvenile fox was adorable,” Sartore wrote in an email to The Catholic Spirit. “The fact that they were able to save the fox and nurse it back to health is a testament to the wonderful work they do at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota.” 

In turn, Vogel was quick to praise Father Ubel, who not only helped make the rescue happen, but followed up to check on the fox and even made visits to the WRC. 

“He’s a really wonderful man,” Vogel said. “He has dropped off, in person, checks to help pay for the fox’s care.” 

Father Ubel said that a Catholic understanding of creation was at the heart of his response to the distressed fox. 

“Life is precious, and while I wholeheartedly agree that we (human beings) are the crown jewel of creation, we nonetheless have a responsibility to care for creation and God’s creatures in a respectful way,” he wrote. “St. Francis of Assisi has been an inspiration for 800 years, with his call to respect nature and see its inherent beauty as a gift from God. While this was simply one small animal over the course of 48 hours, it afforded me the opportunity to experience the dignity of all creation.”  

It also created a bond between the priest and an organization that rehabilitates about 19,000 wild animals a year — mammals, birds and reptiles. Father Ubel calls the WRC “amazing,” and said he was “moved by the work of the staff and volunteers.” 

The WRC now calls the recovered kit the “Cathedral fox” on its Facebook page. One of two WRC Facebook posts about the fox (June 30) received 1,500 reactions and 13,000 views. A more recent post (Feb. 14) got 1,100 reactions.  

On July 1, Father Ubel met Sartore on the day of the photo shoot as the photographer prepared to further expand the recognition of an animal via the Photo Ark, a photo collection project named with a nod to Noah’s ark.  

“Father Ubel that day was just over the moon. He was so excited to meet Joel,” Vogel said. 

Sartore posted video of the Cathedral fox to his Facebook page Feb. 9, writing, “This cutie is a juvenile gray fox I recorded while visiting the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota (WRC). You might think that foxes spend all of their time on the ground, but this species has strong, hooked claws that make it excellent at climbing trees. Capable of reaching heights of up to 18 meters, gray foxes will often take to the trees in order to escape predators like coyotes or to reach arboreal food sources like bird eggs and chicks.” 

Father Ubel encourages people to go online and visit the National Geographic Photo Ark, not only to see pictures of the Cathedral fox but also to view thousands of images of other wildlife species. The animal portraits are part of an effort “to inspire people to care and help protect these animals,” according to its website. 

Father Ubel quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which guides the way he views all living creatures: “Animals are God’s creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory.” 

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