An adult male interacts with a fennec fox indoors, wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and a black cap. 2:29
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The sand fox who grooms his dad's ears

Ethan stretches out on the bed, and Fawzi climbs aboard. To a small sand fox, a man who holds still makes a fine place to spend the day. more

Ethan and his wife, Mikayla Raines, run the Save a Fox Sanctuary. They care for foxes turned away by fur farms and try to find them homes, and Mikayla has been rescuing foxes for many years. Fawzi, a Rüppell's sand fox, is theirs.

On this lazy day the three of them are on the bed. Fawzi roams across Ethan's back as if he has been booked for a massage, while Mikayla chats with her husband.

Then Fawzi gets to the ears. He grooms and nibbles one, then moves on to the other, and Ethan thanks him. “I’m symmetrically cleaned,” he reports. It tickles, he admits, and it almost makes up for this morning.

An adult male interacts with a fennec fox indoors, wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and a black cap. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Ethan stretches out on the bed, and Fawzi climbs aboard.

This morning, it turns out, Fawzi ran across Ethan's face while he was asleep. Then he did it ten more times.

Next Fawzi goes after the cap on Ethan's head and tries to pull it off. “I don’t know what he’s doing,” Ethan says. As soon as Ethan starts talking with Mikayla, though, the little fox drops the mischief.

None of this worries Ethan. He trusts Fawzi and knows he would never hurt him, and Fawzi is just as relaxed with his dad.

A small fox with very large ears rests his head on a person's shoulder while being held indoors. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Held close, Fawzi rests his head on a shoulder, at ease with his people.

Mikayla asks about the shirt Ethan has on. It is for the Finnegan Fox 5K, a virtual run, and the money goes to Save a Fox and to Marvelous Menagerie, a new rescue. Runners get a cool shirt, a medal and some exercise.

Then Mikayla asks for a trick. Ethan has to show off the shirt without Fawzi leaving his back. He gets it done in one try, and the fox rides along as his bed shifts under him.

Later, Ethan says he is going to take a nap. Fawzi isn't finished. He keeps playing on the bed with his people, wide awake while his dad rests.

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