A fox nicknamed “Sly” was spotted in Broomall, Delaware County with a plastic drainage pipe stuck around its neck, and rescuers are attempting to capture and free the animal, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. Coverage from Nbcphiladelphia has highlighted this story.

That single animal has become the focus of a small, sustained volunteer effort: two people from area rescue groups have logged 504 hours working to locate and remove the obstruction while setting traps and observing the fox’s movements.

Volunteers report the fox has been seen at least twice in the past three weeks, and the rescue group coordinating the response is Good Boy Dog Recovery. A core part of their plan is to establish feeding stations and deploy live cameras so they can confirm Sly’s route and attempt a safe capture, steps the group describes as necessary to complete the rescue. Reporting by 6Abc offers additional detail on this case.

Members of the public first drew attention to the animal after local sightings and posts on social media. “I didn’t think anything else of it until i started seeing things on social media,” said Bill Shukar, reflecting how neighborhood reports helped concentrate volunteer efforts.

Good Boy Dog Recovery’s volunteers have treated the situation as a tactical field operation. Colleen Bell, President of Good Boy Dog Rescue, framed their approach succinctly: “We specialize in catching the uncatchable.” Bell said the team is working methodically to learn Sly’s movements so they can place equipment without chasing or stressing the fox.

Bell emphasized the practical steps the team is taking: they are mapping likely travel corridors and using bait points coupled with surveillance to record the animal’s passages. That pattern—establishing feeding stations and monitoring them with cameras—has guided the multi-week tracking effort and allowed volunteers to confirm sightings without direct contact. As covered by Cbsnews, readers can explore more context around the event.

The fox, identified by rescuers as Sly, has been seen moving in and out of residential edges and green corridors near Broomall, with volunteers noting repeated visits to the same vicinity. Good Boy Dog Recovery has described the animal’s outcome as “being rescued” as teams coordinate capture attempts designed to remove the pipe without injuring the fox.

Bell also asked for help from people who encounter the fox in the field. “If you see the fox don’t approach or chase it, instead, take a picture and send it to the Good Boy Dog Recovery team on Facebook with a date, time and direction of travel,” she said, providing a clear, direct instruction intended to preserve the animal’s calm and to improve the group’s ability to place cameras and feeding stations effectively.

Volunteers have noted that Sly appears to be capable of eating and drinking, an observation that has informed their timing and tactics; colder weather, they say, could make the situation more dangerous if the pipe interferes with longer-term foraging. The rescue operation remains organized around minimizing stress to the animal and maximizing the chances of a clean removal when capture is possible.

Local coverage has followed the case as rescuers continued to refine their placement of bait and cameras, and regional outlets have reported on the coordinated volunteer response. A report from 6abc documented how volunteers have used trail cameras and feeding stations to track the fox’s movements without attempting direct contact.

By combining repeated observations with camera evidence, the small team hopes to secure Sly in a humane trap that allows rescuers to remove the drainage pipe in a controlled setting. The nonprofit’s work has drawn attention across the county and prompted offers of assistance from neighbors tracking the animal’s path.

Regional and national outlets have summarized the rescue effort and its methods as the team continues its work in the field. Coverage by CBS News reiterated that the rescue group is balancing the need to capture the fox with the imperative to avoid causing it additional stress or injury.

The case of Sly remains active; volunteers ask that anyone who spots the fox document the sighting and report it to the rescue team rather than attempting an approach, while Good Boy Dog Recovery and its small cadre of volunteers continue their work in Broomall to free the animal from the pipe.

Source

Original reporting: view the original article.