Kimberly DeFisher

Replying to @Amber She’s less pillow pet-ish in this video, eh? 😂

As a very niche “creator”, a ban would be a huge bummer. My account’s often full of cute and entertaining animal videos (hey, they make the best #viralvideo content), but there’s also a ton of educating and fundraising that happens here. I’ve had to learn the balance between being a “fun creator” while simultaneously utilizing platforms to share my nonprofit’s mission. Hopefully this doesn’t go through, but if it does, you know where you can find me, and thank you for a great few years here, friends. 🫶🏼 #wildlife #rescue #animals #creator #tiktokban

🦝 To the boy who gifted me this for Valentine’s Day when we were in high school: I can’t remember who you are, sorry, but hey - even though WE were not meant to be, Savvy the raccoon eventually receiving this pillow clearly WAS meant to be. She says “thank you”. #wildlife #rescue #raccoon #throwback #gift #animals #nonprofit

A fun, simple task, but such an important one! 🥰 #wildlife #rescue #wolf #wolfdog #safety #animals #nonprofit

Clearly Acts of Service is Doji’s love language, too (but not Jacob’s 😂)

Replying to @リディア I actually call this my game of “musical foxes”: I let them out of their enclosures and watch them go down the line of other enclosures, carefully observing how they react to one another. If I see any really good dynamics, I might try to see if new friendships will work! 🎶 #wildlife #rescue #sanctuary #nonprofit #qanda #fox #animals #fyp

And THAT is why secondary entrances are so important 😂 #wildlife #rescue #fox #sneaky #animals #nonprofit

They get a meal that includes fresh, raw meat daily, which, honestly, could technically be “enough” for them, but my protocol at my sanctuary is to also allow the foxes to free-feed on kibble as they please. The use of kibble in a canine’s diet is a controversial subject in the animal community, and each side of the argument has valid points. Here, we - and our vets - are pro-kibble. Aside from the added dental and nutritional benefits, keeping a high-quality kibble accessible makes it so our animals are never starving before mealtime (because animals can get #hangry too). Some foxes clearly enjoy the kibble portion of their diet more than others. Daisy here is a PRIME example. I never even have to walk into their enclosure to check the status of their feeder - she immediately lets me know if the snack drawer needs a refill. 😂 Though most of them only choose to eat a full meal’s worth during supper time, having the ability to snack throughout the day is super helpful in eliminating potential food aggression. It’s an issue that’s almost nonexistent here (I say “almost”, because realistically, things could always happen). I’ve actually advised other fox rescues and owners of trying this method if they ever experience intense food aggression and resource guarding amongst their foxes. I GREATLY appreciate all the support you guys give us, because it’s the only way we’re able to afford feeding all our residents. You may imagine that including kibble in our residents’ diets would save us money, but it’s actually the opposite: We spend WELL over $10,000 on kibble alone annually. Kibble is actually more expensive than raw (based on our current cost of meat). So when you hop on Venmo and send our nonprofit $5, trust me, it’s appreciated - don’t ever feel like your contribution is too small! This has been my protocol since I started rescuing foxes, and aside from the occasional senior animal who puts on an expected extra few pounds, our canines maintain excellent body conditions. They’re amazing at self-regulating how much to eat! 🦊

Aside from being adorable, there’s a reason raccoons dunk things in water: Their paws are sensitive and dexterous, and wetting an object in water - followed by rolling the object around those soft paw pads - enhances the sensory information they can get out of an object. This could be for pure, enriching fun (like you see in this video), but also, this helps them learn more about and more easily recognize different items. Think of it like their paws are almost their second source of vision - which must also be super helpful with them usually being most active during the dark! 🥰

🐺 Whenever anyone other than myself enters the Wolfdog yard - as I’m the only one who’s in with the pack on a daily basis - I’m extremely observant and cautious. Contrary to what some commenters have stated in the past, our Wolfdogs aren’t maneaters who are in a constant state of sizing humans up as prey. 😆 However, they are large canines who demand respect (like any large breed dog, really), they’ve each experienced some level of trauma, pack mentality is a real thing, and some of them have extremely strong temperments and like to push their limits to see how far they can test or assert dominance over people (I don’t want to point any fingers, but, ahem…DAKOTA). Thus, I stay aware and take precautions when needed. Firstly, there are a very limited number of people who can legally enter the yard - per my state license’s regulations. Secondly, whether or not I lock some of the Wolfdogs up depends on 1) if someone has mastered how to act around Dakota to be respected and 2) what we’re doing in there. Even if someone has earned Dakota’s respect, Dakota still gets very suspicious of unusual - especially LOUD and unusual - activity. And when pack leader feels uneasy towards someone, the others get uneasy. Dakota’s suspicion paired with his comfortability around humans could create a potential problem. Unlike our high-content Wolfdogs who are very “wolfy” acting (prefer to avoid conflict) and not confident around humans, mid-content Dakota has those confident, confrontational doggy-like qualities. His go-to move is to quietly come up from behind and give a tiny nip or pull on jeans or a coat with his front teeth. Although it’s kind of adorable and funny, I can also tell by his body language that it means he’s not totally comfortable, which means the situation COULD escalate. For this reason, during times like in this video, I usually lock Dakota up. Now, why is Doji locked up? Well, simply put, Doji just ran in there when I locked Dakota up. 😂 🎥 Our spurt of subzero temps caused the ground to heave by our Wolfdog Yard entrance, which ultimately led to a couple revision projects on the door. (The joys of having outdoor animals in this climate 😅) #wildlife #rescue #wolfdog #wolf #suspicious #winter #behavior #animals

A glimpse at “yard time” + an unexpected potential friendship 😍🦊 #wildlife #rescue #fox #animals #behavior #surprise #nonprofit #fyp

Why didn’t I choose to base my rescue out of the Caribbean? #ifyouknowyouknow #winter #animals #farmchores #rescue

The foxes all waiting patiently while I was blabbing to you guys 🍗 😂

Replying to @$1CK #SocialMedia, a double-edged sword indeed. After reading the variety of comments on that video out loud to Lulu, she said, “DANG, can’t an old lady just get some REM without everyone thinking she was halfway to Heaven?!” 😆 For real though, every time we have a video “go viral”, it comes with the cost of a wild comment section. It’s because our content is reaching a new audience, as opposed to reaching our usual supporters. Don’t get me wrong, these online platforms are an absolute blessing - you guys know that I frequently refer to you all as our “social media family”. It’s incredible that our nonprofit is essentially fully funded through “online exhibition” on social media. Unfortunately, people have the ability to scroll upon random videos without having any prior context about the characters in said videos, and they don’t usually take the extra minute to scope out the creator’s profile before commenting or making a judgement. Thus, we get a LOT of negative comments on any of our videos that get millions of views. It’s not our usual positive, upbeat comment section that is created by our lovely group of fans. And quite honestly - playing devil’s advocate here - I could see why some videos could be questionable if you had NO idea what I do here. For example, I agree that it’s sad to see wild animals “in cages”. So if you stumbled upon one random video of me in an enclosure with a fox, without knowing I run a sanctuary, I could understand why a non-follower would comment something like, “Why does she have that poor fox locked in a cage?! She should let it go!” Being able to step back and attempt to understand the POV of negative commenters makes dealing with them way easier. (It does also help that my followers often reply to sassy comments before I even see them - I notice that, guys. 🫶🏼😉) Granted… I’m human, so there are still occasional comments that make me roll my eyes and think, “Couldn’t they take two seconds to look at my profile? Why doesn’t common sense exist anymore?” 😂 The plus side? Comments are fantastic for the algorithm. Which means they benefit our rescue, regardless of the context. 👏🏼 #wildlife #rescue #fox #animals #reality