Sam Hunt Frees Injured Fox Who Got Paw Stuck in Chicken Coop
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Sam Hunt tried to do the right thing but may have unintentionally upset some fans in the process.
On Wednesday, the "Body Like a Back Road" singer shared a video of himself on Instagram freeing a fox that got its paw stuck in a chicken coop. And while that doesn't sound like something that should be considered controversial, not everyone is happy with how he went about it.
The video, which he warns is pretty graphic, shows a small red fox with one of its front paws jammed into the framing of the chicken coop, which is now covered in blood.
Hunt wields a long metal tool and sticks it between the wood boards where the fox's paw seems to be crushed. After a couple seconds of forcing pressure, the framing split and the fox was free to run off.
"One of the stealthiest creatures in the south slipped up and got his leg stuck in the chicken coop," the 38-year-old country crooner captioned the Aug. 9 clip. "He might not be as agile as he was but he should heal up enough to get along alright."
While Hunt's heart may have been in the right place, some fans quickly blasted the singer-songwriter for not calling animal control or a wildlife rescue team after noticing how badly injured the fox appeared, suggesting a sanctuary may have been able to help it avoid infection or disease and nurse it back to health.
"I’m not sure how this was helping him. Unless I’m viewing it wrong I can see the paw flopping around it 100% a fracture and judging by the blood an open fracture that will be infected," one Instagram user suggested. "Helping him would have been taking the time to capture him and take him to a wildlife rehab facility or if you can’t do that consider shooting him so he doesn’t suffer a slow death from infection in the wild," they wrote in part.
"This is sad… why post a video? The best thing to do in that situation is secure the fox with a blanket and then get him free so he can be taken to a sanctuary and not have to suffer with a clearly broken limb and hope he doesn’t get gangrene and die. His limb was hanging off. It’s not likely that he’ll survive," another top-liked comment read.
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"Why on earth would you post this," a third asked before noting, "That will not just heal on its own."
Along with the criticism was still hope that Hunt did the right thing and the fox would be just fine.
"Poor thing! That was a lot of blood. Hope the paw heals up. ❤ It was just hungry and wanted to feed its family. 😔," someone else cried out.
"Hope he’s ok :( imagine that happening to your hand 🙃," a second shared.
Another wrote, "Poor lil’ guy! Good deed of the day in the 📚."
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