“I never planned on having pet foxes. It just sort of happened.”
Patsy Gibbons was definitely a big animal fan. In his house, he had a bunch of 28 hens, 12 ducks, along with two dogs and two cats. With that many chickens and ducks around, having a pet fox, let alone three, wasn’t something he had in mind.
Yet, this guy from County Kilkenny, Ireland, isn’t your typical person. He’s got three adorable fluffy sidekicks—Grainne, Minnie, and Henry—keeping him company.
Grainne, the eldest of the trio, was a 7-year-old female fox. She had quite a start in life, being found in a storehouse near Columba’s Hospital in Thomastown by Gibbons’ brother-in-law. Grainne was shivering in the cold, abandoned in a box when she was just a few weeks old—fragile and thin. Gibbons, stepping in as a hero, took her to the vet and has been looking after her ever since.
As news got around, folks caught wind that Gibbons was looking after not just one, but two more foxes—Minnie and then Henry, who was brought to him. Minnie, a five-year-old female fox, had quite the beginning. She was just a month-old pup when a woman in Kilmaganny found her. On the other hand, Henry’s story involved a man from the nearby town of Graiguenamanagh claiming to have found him after a dog attack.
Gibbons nurtured these foxes like a father, and once they recovered, they chose to stick around with him instead of going back to the wild. Maybe, in their own way, they wanted to show gratitude to their rescuer.
In fact, the trio of foxes and their caretaker gained quite a reputation among the local kids. They’ve even received invitations from schools to visit, allowing the youngsters to meet them in person and experience the connection firsthand.
