Four red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in an outdoor autumn setting with fallen leaves on the ground under natural daylight, primarily shades of orange and brown earth tones. 4:35
Aileen Adalid channel icon Aileen AdalidOriginal creator 6.2M views Save

200 rescued foxes roam a village in Japan

High in the mountains of Miyagi, Japan, there is a village where about 200 foxes wander as they please. more

The place is called Zao Fox Village. Its foxes come in at least six kinds, among them red, silver and platinum foxes, and they were rescued from slaughterhouses.

Visitors come from many countries to spend time with them, and the foxes really are everywhere you look. When they nap, they curl up into tight, fluffy balls. Fallen autumn leaves cover the ground, nearly the same color as the red foxes. One white cat sits among them under a wooden shelter as if this were all perfectly normal.

A white cat sits near several red foxes under a wooden structure on dirt ground scattered with leaves. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
A white cat sits with the red foxes under a wooden shelter.

Foxes hold a special place in Japan. In old stories they are kitsune, creatures whose powers grow as they get older and wiser. They carry messages for Inari, the Shinto spirit of rice, fertility and prosperity, and they can change shape. The foxes at Zao seem more interested in a nap.

There's a rule here that nobody wants to hear. You're not allowed to touch the foxes. Almost every comment under Aileen Adalid's video is the same groan, from a ruined day to a promise to see somebody in court, all of it in good fun.

Four red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in an outdoor autumn setting with fallen leaves on the ground under natural daylight, primarily shades of orange and brown earth tones. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
High in the mountains of Miyagi, Japan, there is a village where about 200 foxes wander as they please.

For foxes that were rescued, it is an easy life. The hard part belongs to the visitors, who would love to pet them and have to keep their hands to themselves.

#animalrescue