Suddenly, it was very quiet on the foggy, iceberg-covered sea. Mallory Harrison was a fisherwoman living in Labrador, Canada. She grew up fishing with her dad, a fisherman and fell in love with the profession. Cliff and Alan were brothers and fishermen, too. 

Mallory, Cliff, and Alan climbed on board their trusted steed, The Northern Swan, and set out into the waves on a chilly Saturday morning, excited to see what today’s catch would be. They had been sailing for about 30 minutes when Mallory first heard a strange sound from the distance. It sounded like a sad song. 

She jumped up and moved towards the sound, then saw it. She had never seen anything like it. It looked like a giant floating mushroom.”Look at that!” she yelled to the boys as she pointed in its direction. But the real shock was yet to come.”What the heck is that?” Cliff explained. Alan made his way to stand beside Mallory, trying to get a closer look. Suddenly, he gasped.

Mallory squinted and made out a strange, dark figure.

As the iceberg moved from side to side with the waves, a small figure appeared and disappeared on the surface. It looked like a baby seal that had gotten into trouble. Mallory felt upset about seeing the animal die, even though she knew it was nature’s will. She asked the men to help her save the baby seal, but they refused. Cliff said, “You’re joking. It’s way too dangerous. That iceberg could topple over at any moment, and we don’t even know what that thing is up there.”

Before the brothers could do anything, Mallory dived towards the steering wheel and steered the boat straight towards the iceberg.

The iceberg was now close, and the squeal Mallory had heard earlier was getting louder. It was coming from the animal.

Mallory climbed to the top of the iceberg as Alan struggled to get to the top. But as soon as she saw the animal up close, she froze. She called out for Alan, but he took a long time to arrive. Mallory turned to him and gestured to signal him to approach with caution. Now, they were the ones in danger. It was not a baby seal. Its fur was matted and wet, and it started growling as they got close. But it was small and looked weak and tired. 

“It’s a fox! It’s an arctic fox!”Mallory exclaimed, excited to see one in real life for the first time, as was Alan. Curiosity got the better of him, and he inched closer. The animal was in bad condition. Mallory was unsure how she would catch it or how the animal would react to her getting closer. But what happened next was unbelievable. 

Slowly, Mallory got down on her hands and knees, reached out her jacket, and scooped the sad-looking animal right into her arms. 

The fox was utterly still. It must have been exhausted from fighting to stay alive because it had no energy to fight back.

As soon as Mallory and Alan got on board, the poor fox curled into a ball in the corner of the boat. Mallory fed the fox some animal crackers, which it immediately wolfed down.

The three of them were amazed at the recluse animal. The brothers laughed at how scared they had been of it only a few moments ago.

Once the crew returned to the shore, Mallory prepared a bed of sawdust for the fox and immediately called their local wildlife center. The wildlife workers arrived quickly, eager to see the arctic fox, as these creatures are rarely seen in the wild. They examined the fox and determined it must have been stranded for days. It was white and thick, but its fur was dirty and matted. It was exhausted and had lost weight, but its vital signs were typical. Mallory was just happy that they had decided to help the fox. If they had not, the fox would have drifted further out to sea where they wouldn’t have seen it. The fox never wanted to leave humans after being saved, so it now lives on an island where dogs used to be trained to pull sleds. It has fully recovered and is as happy as ever.