NO MORE FUCKING BULLYING !!!

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TAKEN FROM THE SAVE A FOX WEBSITE:

My name is Mikayla Raines and I am the founder of SaveAFox Rescue. I have always loved all animal species but I found my love for foxes at the age of 15 when I met my very first fox while volunteering for a wildlife rehabber. 

At that time, I knew I wanted a fox in my life but I had never planned on starting a rescue or even having multiple foxes!

 My love for these animals was recognized in 2015 and I was offered a captive-born red fox to bottle raise and keep (as captive-born foxes could never legally be wild). 

Although not a true rescue, she was my very first red fox, I named her Farrah Foxett. Owning a fox opened a whole new world for me. Because of how often I would want to share about her with

the world I was then put in touch with fur farmers. 

Fur farms are something I never even knew was an active business in the U.S. After rescuing my first three fox pups from a fur farm (rejected by mother fox) I had begun my rescue. This required no college although I had already been going to college to be a vet tech. I didn’t complete it as I had left to save foxes instead!

🦊 Much of my animal care knowledge was learned from taking those college courses and additionally taking years of wildlife rehabilitation classes through the DNR. So, I highly suggest both! 

For my State and for what we do here at the rescue I was required to obtain a few licenses. “captive wildlife exhibitor” “DNR game farm” and “USDA”. I keep a good rapport with the fur farmers as they are kind enough to give injured, Ill, adult, and rejected fox pups to the rescue. But that is only where half of our foxes come from. MANY of the foxes here are surrenders. Surrendered foxes are also captive-born foxes. They were once sold from breeders to someone for a pet.

 Most don’t understand what it is like to have a fox until they have one. They are destructive, and not fully potty trainable which leads many to give them up. Even some good fox parents have had to give theirs up due to life’s unexpected circumstances.

🦊 I originally started up this rescue on my own. But now we have many GREAT volunteers. But there are still a few things only I do. I manage the rescue IG page @saveafox_rescue, I keep up with our licenses, I bottle raise all fox pups that come to us un-weaned, I take foxes to their vet appointments, and I manage to fundraise.

🦊 Fox chores, building enclosures, fox socialization, Toddler foxes, FB page, fox errands (picking up supplies), and funding I all have assistance with. Of course, this rescue wouldn’t exist without all our wonderful sponsors and donors. 📷

Less than a week after Save A Fox rescue founder Mikayla Raines died by suicide, her husband, Ethan Frankamp, is speaking out and sharing his grief.

"I'm going to be honest, I don't have any words to describe it. It's definitely been the hardest week of my life, for sure," Frankamp said.

Frankamp says he discovered Raines Friday morning. Despite efforts to save her life with CPR, she died.

 Raines leaves behind a young daughter.

"It's been really difficult trying to watch [our daughter] comprehend what's going on because she doesn't know, and I can't explain it to her," Frankamp said. "I don't have the words to explain it to her. 

Just trying to explain it to her that mommy's gone."

Frankamp reiterated Thursday that Raines had struggled with online bullying, including from people close to her. He says that, paired with recent levels of increasing stress, could be overwhelming.

There's a bunch of different places where this just kind of all adds up," he said. "And even though she would always see so many positive comments on stuff she was doing, she took the negative ones very personally."

The Rice County Sheriff's Office says the investigation into Raines' death is still open. Frankamp says he would hope to see some sort of accountability for the people commenting hatred online.

"I do hope there's accountability. Not just from a legal aspect, or a criminal aspect, but just if the people that did this can have the time to self-reflect on what they've said and what they've done. And how just a simple comment online can be such a personal thing online to someone that's reading it," Frankamp said.

Raines founded Save A Fox in Lakeville, Minnesota, in 2017, and was soon at odds with the City Council for violating her permit by taking in more than twice the number of foxes allowed and by expanding the fencing on her property, according to city officials. 

I have so many questions, Who what and why.

1. Who, Who? Honestly who do you think you are? To bully such a soft spirit?

2. What, What was the purpose of your bullying? What was your end game? Did this make you happy? What kind of a person are you?

3. Why, Why would you want to dim the light of someone doing good in this world?

I'll never get the answers to these questions, because I've never got the answers for my own situation.  But maybe if I finally share my story, it may touch them in a way they stop and get help before it's too late.

As far back as I can remember I was bullied in school. The experiences I had to endure started mild, pushing, shoving because I was smaller than everyone else in my class. Then it progressed to a bit more physical, wedgies, swirlies, taking my stuff like my glasses.

But one thing that still haunts me is when they would flick my ears until they would bleed. This was all the way from 2nd grade thru my freshman year but then it got worse. The worst thing I ever experienced was when I was literally hunted like an animal. 

I was delivering newspapers and when I saw the black chevy pickup pull up on me by the park, I took off running as fast as I could. 

I was running down the railroad tracks behind the elevator, trying to hide by the grain bins.  BULLY 2 dropped BULLY 1 off so he could chase me on foot and drove to the other side of the bins. Chasing me on foot and in a vehicle.

That’s the spot where it all happened, they had started torturing me. Hitting me, kicking me, they stripped me down to my underwear and was shocking me with a cattle prod all over my body. Head, torso, legs and finally genitals. 

It’s hard for me to admit this but I was scared to death, screaming for help. But it didn’t help, the noise from the elevator was too loud. Nobody could hear my screams. One of them grabbed a chain from the back of the truck and struck me on the back repeatedly. Laughing all the time they were beating me.

I knew it would do me no good but I went home and told Mom about it but she just said the same thing she always did, “Kill them with kindness, that’s how you really hurt them.”

That’s such BULLSHIT. My folks were always passive about the things that happened to me. 

The earliest memory I have of wanting to make it all stop, by hanging, was about 7 or 8 years old.  And if I'm being completely honest I sat more than once in my room with the shotgun in my mouth.  But i always found something to stop me.

As time has gone by and I’ve spent time in therapy I have come to some conclusions about why mom and dad were so passive, and I can’t really blame them, but I still don’t like it. 

I was the sacrifice. Meaning that it was the 70’s and 80’s, unemployment was super high, and jobs were hard to find. They both worked for the co-op, and the parents of my two main bullies were big farmers in our area. Looking at this as an adult I get that if dad would have taken a stand against either family, he or mom could have lost their jobs. 

As much as it sucks, and good Lord I really pray it wasn't intentional,  I do understand the thinking. That’s a lot for a little boy and a teenager to deal with and as a result I will always have to deal with PTSD. That truly was the worst thing I can remember, what scares me, what have I blocked out?

Please know I didn't post this for sympathy, I truly hope my story may help someone, even just one.

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

For more information about mental health care resources and support, 

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or email info@nami.org.