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Fox Kept As Pet Seized By Colorado Parks And Wildlife, Euthanized

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4)- A Colorado Springs woman who kept a fox as a pet said Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers seized the fox and euthanized the animal. Ashley Yeager said she saw the fox in trouble two years ago and reported it.

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(credit: Ashley Yeager)

Yeager said the CPW officer told her not to interfere and to let nature run its course. Yeager rescued the fox anyway and named him "Flash."

She continued to care for him like a pet. Yeager even started an Instagram page. Someone tipped off wildlife officers and they stepped in.

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(credit: Ashley Yeager)

"To let a small kit die just because it's wildlife isn't right," said Yeager.

"Wildlife are not pets. Under no circumstances should people take animals from the wild and try to keep them as pets," said an officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. "This is a super tragic situation. None of us are happy with the outcome, which is why we are reaching out to people and begging them to just not take things from the wild."

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(credit: Ashley Yeager)

CPW said the fox had to be euthanized because it had lived too long with people and would not survive in the wild. People can be fined for taking in wild animals. In this case, Yeager was not cited because CPW said the pain of losing an animal that had been like a pet was punishment enough.

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