June 9, 2021 10.03 am This story is over 33 months old

Litter of arctic foxes born at wildlife park near Boston

A litter of around 10 adorable pups
A litter of around 10 adorable arctic fox pups were born at the sanctuary near Boston. | Photo: Ark Wildlife Park & Exotic Animal Sanctuary

A litter of around 10 adorable arctic fox pups were born at a wildlife park near Boston and people can now go and visit the adorable animals.

Ark Wildlife Park & Exotic Animal Sanctuary in Stickney revealed their “little secret” saying that the “pair of arctic foxes who joined us recently were carrying a surprise for us”.

Mum Alaksa and dad Blizzard first arrived at the sanctuary in January from a private collector and on arrival the pregnancy was suspected by the park’s owners. The pups were born in May this year, but the sanctuary’s owners delayed the announcement until June 8 to make sure they were healthy and fine.

An artic fox with one of the recently born pups. | Photo: Ark Wildlife Park & Exotic Animal Sanctuary

Some may be hiding in a den underneath the enclosure, but so far the park’s owners have counted around 10 pups. Alaska’s pups ventured out of the den for the first time on June 8 and the sanctuary said: “We’re really proud of her and she’s proving to be a very attentive mum.”

Jamie Mintram, co-owner of the sanctuary, told The Lincolnite: “Shortly after she arrived we had a sneaky suspicion she was pregnant, so kept a careful eye on her and making sure she had everything she needs. We built special box for her in the enclosure, but she decided to dig underneath it.

“We are absolutely thrilled (with the pups) as arctic foxes are beautiful members of the fox family and not often seen in the UK.

“We have started building a bigger more comfortable enclosure for the whole family to live in together, which they will move into later in the year. Blizzard is being kept separate at the moment, purely because we didn’t want to risk another litter, but he’s been neutered and will be rejoining his family again shortly.”

Ark Wildlife Park & Exotic Animal Sanctuary reopened on May 17, but tickets must be booked in advance. Tickets priced at £9 for adults and £6.50 for children (not including Eventbrite’s admin fee) can be booked online here.

Visitors will be able to look at the enclosure housing the arctic foxes and their pups, but the public may only get to see them for a short while as they are only popping out for short moments at a time. When they move into their bigger enclosure the sanctuary may plan a bigger reveal of these adorable animals.