Westlake police officers worked together to free a red fox that had become tangled in a soccer net, sharing video of the rescue as the animal struggled to break loose from the mesh. The fox was caught in the netting before officers arrived and cut it free, according to video released by the department.
The Westlake Police Department shared footage of the rescue, as reported by FOX 8 News. The department provides 24-hour law enforcement services to the city and maintains a public Nixle text alert system for residents, reachable by texting 44145 to 888777, according to the City of Westlake.
Not the First Net Rescue in Westlake
This isn't the first time Westlake officers have had to cut an animal loose from sports equipment. In June 2023, police freed a fawn that had become trapped in a backyard soccer goal, a rescue documented at the time by Police1. And back in July 2020, a Westlake Animal Control officer was called out to free a Great Horned Owl caught in a soccer net within the city, according to a report from WKYC.
The pattern isn't limited to Westlake. Just to the west, officers in neighboring Avon used scissors to cut a Great Horned Owl loose from a soccer net on an athletic field in July, footage captured on their body cameras and shared by FOX 8. Avon borders Westlake directly, and the back-to-back incidents suggest netting entanglements are a recurring hazard across western Cuyahoga and Lorain counties.
Why Late Summer Is Prime Time for Entanglements
The timing tracks with a warning issued by the Ohio Wildlife Center, which said in August that late summer is a peak period for native animals getting caught in mesh soccer nets. The organization made the advisory after rescuing a skunk from a net, urging residents to raise or store sports netting when it isn't in use.
Wildlife rehabilitators have a physiological reason for the urgency. According to the Lakeside Nature Center, nocturnal animals like foxes and owls often can't see thin sports netting at night, and their struggle to escape can cause constriction injuries that cut off blood flow. Those injuries, the center notes, can take between 7 and 14 days to fully manifest as open wounds, which is why a fast rescue matters.
Foxes Are a Familiar Sight in Suburban Yards
Red foxes are common across the state, inhabiting all 88 Ohio counties and operating in solitary home ranges of roughly 1 to 2 miles, per the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The agency notes the animals frequently adapt to suburban edge habitats, drawn in by the plentiful rodents and rabbits that live alongside people. That adaptability helps explain why a fox might wander into a residential backyard and find itself caught in the same netting meant for weekend soccer games.
State-level monitoring compiled by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service indicates Ohio's red fox populations have remained generally stable while expanding into suburban landscapes alongside other medium-sized predators. Cleveland Metroparks, which oversees natural reservations throughout Cuyahoga County, also partners in the Urban Wildlife Information Network to track how foxes and coyotes move through developed suburban areas, adding a regional layer to the pattern playing out in individual backyards like the one in Westlake.
What to Do If You Find a Trapped Animal
Under Ohio Department of Natural Resources regulations, it's illegal for private citizens to keep, restrain, or otherwise possess wild animals. That makes calling municipal police, local animal control, or a state-licensed wildlife rehabilitator the legally required response whenever trapped wildlife is discovered, rather than attempting to handle the situation directly.
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