Six orphaned gray foxes were found and cared for at the Wildlife Care Center in Saratoga for the last four months before being released back into the wild at Alum Rock Park in San Jose on Aug. 20.

Gray foxes are native to the Bay Area with a “pretty established” population, said Ashley Kinney, wildlife rehabilitation department manager for the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA, which runs the Saratoga center. However, their numbers statewide have somewhat declined due to human encroachment on their habitats.

The foxes perform several ecological services; the main one is pest control. Gray foxes keep gopher, vole, ground squirrel, rat and mice populations in check. They also have an omnivore diet that consists of fruits and grubs and spread seeds for forest growth and remove carcasses in the environment, Kinney said. They’re also one of the few larger mammals that can climb trees.

In April, a construction crew working on tree maintenance in Alum Rock Park found the six sibling kits, which is what young foxes are called. Kinney said their den was likely disrupted. The construction workers and park rangers attempted to reunite the kits with their parents, but the parents did not come back. The baby foxes were taken to the Saratoga facility intake center 48 hours later.

“It’s not usually very common because fox parents are really attentive to their young, but this is a pretty populated area in terms of people, and I think there’s just too much going on within that area that the parents never came back,” Kinney said.

The baby foxes were about five weeks old, dehydrated and flea-ridden when they arrived at the Wildlife Care Center. They were barely able to open their eyes. Kinney said they also had small puncture wounds on them, but she wasn’t entirely sure where they came from.

The fox siblings were kept in a special remote enclosure among the trees at the Saratoga facility. It was designed for larger mammals and kept away from people; only certain staff could go and take care of the foxes, Kinney said.

They were given vitamins and subcutaneous fluids before transitioning to a natural diet that included small meat bits and a species-specific formula that is similar to their mother’s milk. Kinney said they had just started to be able to eat on their own, so there was no reason to feed the foxes by syringe or hand.

According to a press release from the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA, it is “highly unusual” for six siblings to be found together. Kinney said this is because parents of larger mammals like foxes, coyotes or bobcats are usually very attentive, so it’s rare to come across entire families that are orphaned.

“It’s generally just one or two, not the entire litter,” Kinney said. “So because of the situation in which they were found and the reasoning behind the disruption of their den, it is unusual to actually have a full litter in care.”

Nonetheless, the young foxes reportedly did well under the care of wildlife staff in Saratoga. Human contact was reduced to ensure that the animals remained wild. Once they had learned to forage for food and reached the age where they were self-sufficient, they were released.

With permission from the City of San Jose and Alum Rock Park rangers, the six sibling foxes were released back to their home range where they were found.

“We just hope to continue to keep that healthy balance where their home range is and for them to establish territory and continue their natural role in the environment,” Kinney said.

Anyone who finds an injured, sick or orphaned wild animal is encouraged to call the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA at 650-340-7022.

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