The fox that slipped into the schoolyard (Picture provided by Shapingba Police)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- In the morning of March 2, students at a middle school in Shapingba North Street, Shapingba District, Chongqing, were reading and starting a new semester after the start of spring school. While patrolling the school, the staff member Zhang spotted an animal with a tail “wandering” in the corner by the basketball court.

“At first I thought it was a dog, but the more I looked the less it looked like a dog, instead it looked like a fox!” Zhang slowly approached, and only then did he see the animal’s appearance: more than 50cm long, with brownish-yellow fur, a long mouth, pointed and erect ears, black limbs, and a gentle and lovely appearance, looking like a small fox.

A police officer and a school worker catching the fox

As he didn’t know if the fox was aggressive and was worried about hurting the students, Zhang could only immediately call his colleagues to round it up and herd it into a nearby vacant room, then called the police at Shapingba Police Station to ask for help.

After receiving the request for help, the police rushed to the site. Through observation, the police found that the fox was agile, had no external injuries, had a clean body and shiny fur, and should be in good health.

The police contacted Management Office of Chongqing Zoo in order to better accommodate the fox. Soon after, staff from Management Office of Chongqing Zoo arrived on the site and confirmed that “this little cutie is a red fox, a national protected animal, which likes to be alone and is not generally aggressive. If the body color is black or silver, it is basically an exotic species”.

At present, the young fox has been isolated and kept by the Management Office of Chongqing Zoo and will be released back into the wild at a later date. (Translated by Wang Huixin, Fathom Language Limited)