Not your average lobbyist

The Legislative Office Building had an unusual visitor this afternoon - a young fox who'd gotten himself into a fix he couldn't get out of. 

On the second floor, at street level, there's a small space between the steps down from Halifax Mall and the building's snack bar.  The space is used as an arboretum - it's open on top, but glassed in all around, and planted with shrubs.  The only access to it is a locked door, so the fox must have fallen into it from the stairway or wall overhead.   

This afternoon, a visitor to the snack bar noticed the arboretum's new inhabitant. Raleigh Animal Control was called, and Officer Corey Narron showed up at the scene with a net.

The little guy reportedly injured his mouth trying to get out through the window, but was eventually captured and taken to Wake County Animal Shelter. Jokes were flying about whether the fox was a registered lobbyist - lawmakers are taking up a handful of fox and coyote hunting bills this session. 

Contacted later this afternoon, Officer Narron didn't want to offer details about what would happen to the fox.  But when I pressed him, he said, "By state law, you're not allowed to relocate any animal [species] that is a rabies carrier." 

In a follow-up call, Raleigh Animal Control Officer Stephanie Williams confirmed the fox was euthanized at the county shelter.