Caged Evidence Longs for the Wild : Arctic Foxes Can’t Be Freed Until Altadena Case Ends

It’s been eight months since sheriff’s deputies arrested Cheryl Moraga for keeping 10 wild Arctic foxes at her Altadena home without a permit.

But the foxes, seized by state game wardens who wanted to place them in a more natural environment, have so far been the big losers.

While Moraga’s case grinds slowly through the courts, the animals have been kept behind a chain-link fence in a concrete-floored kennel at the Pasadena Humane Society, where they were taken after her arrest.

Humane Society officers are unhappy because they say they are not equipped to care for the foxes, which are generally found burrowing caves and tunnels in the frigid tundra of Alaska.

State Department of Fish and Game officials are unhappy because they would also like to relocate the animals but need them as evidence for the misdemeanor charges against Moraga.

The 36-year-old Moraga, who is finally scheduled for a jury trial in Pasadena Municipal Court next month, is unhappy because she says she cared for the tiny, gray-and-white pups as if they were her own children.

And while they have all fretted about the foxes, two of the animals have apparently escaped from the kennel and were killed by cars while darting across nearby streets.

“We’re not dealing with evidence, like a gun or something, that can be put on a shelf,” said a frustrated Steve McNall, executive director of the Pasadena Humane Society. “These are living, breathing animals that need to be cared for . . . and, unfortunately, we’re just not set up for it.”

Spent Night in Jail

The foxes, eight babies and two adults, were seized Jan. 24 by Fish and Game wardens who had received an anonymous tip that Moraga was keeping wild animals in her back yard.

Sheriff’s deputies, who assisted the wardens, coincidentally found a few other things in the yard: about a dozen marijuana plants growing near the foxes’ cage.

Moraga, a homemaker who also has several dogs and cats, was arrested for possession of exotic animals without a permit and for marijuana cultivation. She was released on $1,000 bail after spending a night in the Crescenta Valley sheriff’s sub-station.

“They were my pets . . . really sweet and cute as hell,” Moraga said in an interview this week. “To have them just whipped away like that is so upsetting.”

She said she bought the two adult foxes about five years ago from an animal broker “out in the desert somewhere” who told her that they had been bred in captivity and were domesticated.

Moraga said she would never think of selling their pelts, which balloon into fluffy white balls in the winter and are often the motivation for breeding the animals. She never even intended for the animals to mate, she said, but about a year and half ago nature took its course.

‘They Were So Tame’

“I hand-fed the babies before their eyes were open . . . so they would associate it with human nurturing,” Moraga said. “They were so tame and easy to care for.”

Her veterinarian, Janet Berens of Teresita Animal Hospital in Pasadena, said she treated the foxes on several occasions, including performing surgery on one of the females that suffered a broken leg.

“She seemed like a concerned owner . . . and went to considerable expense and effort,” said Berens, adding that she didn’t consider it her role to question Moraga about the legality of owning the animals. “They all seemed to be in fairly good condition to me.”

Nonetheless, California law prohibits possession of such animals without a permit, said state Fish and Game Warden Donna Davis. Although the animals are not endangered or particularly rare, she said, they are considered exotic and far from their native habitat.

“Basically, we don’t allow private citizens to have these animals as pets,” Davis said. “They are wild animals.”

Called L.A. Zoo

After the animals were seized, Moraga said, she called the Los Angeles Zoo to see if they could be housed there. Mike Dee, the zoo’s curator of mammals, told her he could find homes at other zoos or wildlife programs for all the foxes but said he could not get Fish and Game officials to return his calls.

“I was going to take them all,” Dee said. “But I just never could get ahold of those people. Now there’s no room. I couldn’t even take one.”

Davis said she has authorized the release of one fox to an educational wildlife program and would like to place the others similarly but needs them as evidence to prosecute Moraga.

“I am bound by the legal limits of what I can and can’t do with evidence,” Davis said. “Unfortunately, that’s not necessarily what’s best for the animals.”

Fed Special Food

Meanwhile, the seven remaining foxes--with males segregated from females--bask in the summer heat under the corrugated tin roof that covers their 10-by-15-foot kennel. The Humane Society feeds them specially formulated food that costs the private, nonprofit organization $1 a can.

But for Moraga, who occasionally visits the animals and brings them other treats such as watermelon and hard-boiled eggs, getting them into a more suitable environment can’t come soon enough.

“I figured I couldn’t take care of kids and animals at the same time, so my husband and I decided on animals,” she said. “You get attached when you spend that much time with them.”