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There’s only so much you can do to prevent animals from hitching a ride on vessels that travel around the world. Those stowaways tend to be pretty tiny creatures that have plenty of options when it comes to places to hide to avoid detection, which isn’t really the case with a fox that managed to hop on a cargo ship in England before it was discovered upon its arrival in New York.
Humans have been relying on boats for lengthy journeys across bodies of water for thousands of years, and there’s evidence that suggests vermin like mice and rice have been an issue since the early days of maritime history.
Rodents that managed to figure out a way to infiltrate ships not only caused issues by contaminating supplies and chewing on ropes but had the potential to usher in global catastrophes, as disease-carrying rats that were ferried to and from various ports are believed to have played a central role in the three major plague pandemics (including the “Black Death”).
In time, many ships turned to cats to attempt to crack down on those unwanted passengers, and most boats still employ the circular rat guards that are affixed to lines to prevent those pests from scurrying aboard.
However, they aren’t foolproof, and those also aren’t the only wild animals that can end up hitching a ride.
A fox was discovered aboard a cargo ship that traveled from England to New York before being taken to the Bronx Zoo
According to The Guardian, a cargo ship that was ferrying automobiles from England to the United States departed from Southampton on February 4th before arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey on February 18th.
American officials who were tasked with reviewing the incoming shipment subsequently came across an unexpected surprise in the form of the red fox they encountered on the ship. It’s not entirely clear how it got onto the boat in the first place or how it was captured once it was detected, but it was corralled without incident before being taken to the Bronx Zoo on the 19th.
The veterinarians who examined the approximately 11-pound male said he appeared to be healthy and was “settling in well” after arriving at the facility, where he is currently subsisting on a diet of “produce, proteins, and some biscuit-like items” as they attempt to figure out a long-term relocation solution.
This isn’t the first time an animal that unexpectedly traveled from one country to another has made headlines in the past year or so, as a woman sparked what seemed to be an ultimately unsuccessful search for a scorpion that stung her after she landed in Boston after flying back from a trip to Mexico last March.