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USA Today
11 hours ago
- USA Today
Mikayla Raines, animal rescue YouTuber, dies by suicide, husband says in video
"Despite her pouring out all of her love for the animals, she still found some love to give to me," Mikayla's husband Ethan said in a YouTube video. This article discusses suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at Mikayla Raines, an animal rescuer who shared her work on YouTube, has died by suicide, her husband Ethan Raines shared on Monday. In a nearly 12-minute video titled, "An unimaginable loss for the rescue," Ethan said Mikayla had taken her life as a result of mental illness and harassment she faced online. Since 2009, Raines had maintained a YouTube channel for her animal rescue, Save a Fox Rescue, located in Rice County, Minnesota. The channel's following grew to more than 2.4 million subscribers. "Mikayla was the most bright and shining example of what you could accomplish if you really set your mind to something," Ethan said in the video. "She was never held back by ideas everyone else considered unrealistic." Ethan explained in the video that in recent years, people online, including owners of other animal rescues, had begun to spread "claims and rumors" about Mikayla and Save a Fox. "Being the sensitive human that she was, Mikayla took it all to heart. And it hurt her. It hurt her a lot," Ethan said. "If you only have negative garbage to say, just shut up. And if you are feeling lost and hopeless, please reach out to someone, whether it's friends and family or calling a hotline." USA TODAY has reached out to the Rice County Sheriff's Office for more information about Mikayla's death. Who was Mikayla Raines? Mikayla established her nonprofit, Save a Fox, in 2017, with the intention of saving foxes from the fur trade industry. According to the rescue's website, the rescue has saved about 150 foxes from death over the past eight years. Once foxes are brought into the rescue and nursed back to health, many were available for adoption. Save a Fox also works with cats and minks. In addition to sharing videos of how to care for various animals, Mikayla discussed living with autism on social media. Mikayla also suffered from depression and borderline personality disorder, Ethan said in the YouTube video. She spent years in and out of different kinds of therapy, trying various different types of medication, he added. "She put the animals' wellbeing over her own time and time again. She would forgo sleep, eating and showering if there was an animal that needed her help. Despite her pouring out all of her love for the animals, she still found some love to give to me," Ethan said in the video, while choking up. Mikayla was also a mother of a young daughter named Freya. Animal rescue community mourns loss Since Ethan's YouTube video posted on Monday, countless followers and animal rescues across the country have shared their condolences. "This week, the rescue world lost a bright light. Mikayla didn't just rescue animals – she moved mountains for them," South Carolina based KJ Farms Animal Rescue wrote in a social media post on Monday. KJ Farms explained in the post that Mikayla has recently started a financial campaign for Save a Fox to rescue about 500 foxes from a fox farm. But Mikayla's efforts to save the foxes was met with online criticism. "Anyone in rescue knows what it feels like to say, 'Yes,' from your heart, even when your head is screaming, 'How?' She scrambled for space. For homes. For medical help. For funding. And when things got hard, the judgment rolled in faster than the support ever did," KJ Farms wrote. "Some of the very people who should've stood by her – other rescuers – joined the mob instead." The campaign remains on the Save a Fox website and YouTube channel. As of June 24, more than 117,000 had been raised, of a $700,000 goal. Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@
Time of India
17 hours ago
- General
- Time of India
'It Went Too Far': Husband Speaks Out After Mikayla Raines' Tragic Death
Image via: Save a Fox Rescue/Facebook Mikayla Raines, the much-beloved animal rescuer and founder of Save A Fox, died by suicide at the age of 29. Her husband, Ethan Raines, shared the sad news in a video, which was posted on the rescue organization's social media pages, alongside an account of how Mikayla had silently suffered from mental health issues for many years. A Life for Animals Mikayla gained a significant following on YouTube and other platforms for rescuing and rehabilitating animals – especially foxes, an exotic species not commonly kept as pets. Her organization Save A Fox quickly became a sanctuary and place of education and enjoyment for fox lovers everywhere. Behind all the cute animal videos and feel good clips was a woman battling wars that no one cared or understood for long. Ethan said, "Mikayla had long battled mental health conditions, including autism, borderline personality disorder, and depression. She sought treatment through therapies and medication, but nothing really seemed to help." The Hidden Burden Ethan brought forth a very raw and heartfelt emotional portrayal of the price that Mikayla's illness exacted on her every day. "Simple tasks were hard for her, looking at her from the outside, you could never tell what was going on in her head, but even just socializing would send her over the edge." Ethan mentioned. Despite all of this, even as Mikayla was making waves and building a growing profile for herself, the reality was that she had a difficult time in a world that was always confusing, really scary, and pretty awful. The scrutiny of social media, combined with the penalty of not being super sensitive, was simply too much for her. Harassment and Isolation While a certain core was mental illness within Mikayla's struggles, Ethan, on the other hand, mentioned the enormous effects the online harassment Nis experienced had on her life. And the cases of cruelty were rather ironic, considering they originated in the very community she had fought hard to empower. "They consistently spread ridiculous claims and rumors, and being the sensitive human that she was, Mikayla took it all to heart," Ethan said. "And it hurt her. It hurt her a lot. For years, she pushed through the pain of people trying to bring her down." In the end, Ethan said, "this time, it went too far. She couldn't bear what she was feeling any longer, and she ended her life." Game On Season 1 kicks off with Sakshi Malik's inspiring story. Watch Episode 1 here
