Overview

Mikayla Raines' Death refers to the death by suicide of YouTuber and Save a Fox Rescue founder Mikayla Raines, who reportedly took her own life in June 2025 after reportedly being cyberbullied and criticized online, with some pointing the finger at members of the /r/SaveAfoxSnark snark subreddit, a community dedicated to criticizing Raines, as the main spreaders of the alleged hate. Raines' suicide became a widespread topic of discussion online after it broke, resulting in many reactions and some renewed calls for snark subreddits to be banned from Reddit. Some people also started looking into the people who bullied Raines, with one Redditor in particular, u/KazeoLion, becoming the target of exposure after making a post to the /r/WildlifeRehab subreddit following Raines' suicide about how they are "not backing down" and stand by their criticism of Raines.

Background

SaveAFox / Mikayla Raines

Mikayla Raines is the founder of Save a Fox Rescue, a fox rehabilitation center and animal rescue that specializes in saving foxes from fur farms and other negligent situations. The rescue was started in 2017, and Raines documented the foxes on her YouTube channel, Saveafox, which boasts over 2.4 million subscribers as of June 2025. The channel helped fund the rescue.

One of the channel's most viral videos on the YouTube^[1] channel, titled "The foxes that say HEHEHE," was uploaded on May 5th, 2020, and shows Mikayla interacting with the foxes, garnering over 80 million views in five years.

Snark / Criticism

Throughout the 2020s, Raines became the subject of some online criticism. For example, on January 2nd, 2021, Tumblr^[2] user kaijutegu answered an anonymous user asking, "Was just wondering if you have any thoughts on Saveafox?" writing, "Dumb as hell. Fur farming isn’t inherently bad and foxes are not a conservation concern at all. Donate to actual conservation organisations."

The comment resulted in arguments between several Tumblr users about fur farming and Raines, with Tumblr user reggiemess eventually alleging that Save a Fox Rescue might not be a legal rescue, as it is purportedly registered as a fur farm.

Another Tumblr user, zoologicallyobsessed, shared a link to a Google Drive purportedly containing more evidence of wrongdoings by Raines, but it is no longer accessible. One commenter discussed the Drive, claiming that it suggested issues with "money mismanagement" and that "there’s even clear admittance of stealing animals from owners."

On January 28th, 2023, Redditor u/LetsGetThisBrud shared the Tumblr post to the /r/CaptiveWildlife^[3] subreddit, asking if the accusations were legitimate. The post inspired over 80 comments, including some defending Raines from accusations of doing things like buying foxes rather than rescuing them, and others criticizing her for things like allegedly mistreating a sand fox by not providing it with adequate heat.

Others criticize the Tumblr poster for claiming that fur farming is not inherently bad and generally try to debunk and criticize the points made in the Google Drive.

On May 22nd, 2023, Redditor u/KazeoLion made posts to the /r/AnimalRescue,^[4] /r/foxes^[5] and /r/WildlifeRehab^[6] subreddits titled, "PSA: SaveAFox is a hoarder, not a rescue." The posts were all locked and removed by mods, however, screenshots of the post's contents have been archived.

The last post to /r/WildlifeRehab inspired over 110 upvotes and 105 comments in two years, further spreading the allegations against Save a Fox Rescue. One user, Redditor u/Desperate_Hotel_2904, claims to have volunteered for Save a Fox Rescue and writes a comment denying the allegations in the Google Drive.

On an unknown date, the /r/SaveaFoxSnark^[7] subreddit, dedicated to criticizing Save a Fox Rescue and Raines, was started. It has since been privatized following Raines' suicide in late June 2025.

Developments

Mikayla Raines' Death

On June 23rd, 2025, the SaveaFox YouTube^[8] channel uploaded a video titled, "An unimaginable loss for the rescue," garnering over 1.1 million views in two days.

In the video, Raines' husband, Ethan, announces her death. He talks about her autism diagnosis and how it allowed her to hyper-focus on animals. He celebrates her love of animals and selflessness. He also says she was responsible for saving "over the four figures" of animals over the years.

Ethan goes on to talk about what she meant to him as his wife and as a parent. He then talks about her struggles with autism, depression and borderline personality disorder (BPD). He describes her sensitivity as a double-edged sword, saying it allowed her "endless empathy" but that it also meant she always took negative comments to heart.

Ethan then talks about snarkers. He says that for a few years, people had been "throwing dirt" on her name and the rescue. He states this came from people she knew and other sanctuaries that spread rumors. Mikayla took it all to heart, according to Ethan, but she pushed through for years. However, some of the criticism from close friends got to her. He added that she ended her own life because of the negativity.

He continues and says that he wishes all the people who pushed the negativity could have seen him find her and perform CPR on her. Ethan concludes and wishes they had to see the paramedics try to revive her and hear the screams and cries of her family, encouraging people who are feeling lost and hopeless to reach out for help before it's too late.

Online Reactions

The news of Mikayla Raines' death in late June 2025 was widely shared across social media by the media and by social media users, including a post by the @Dexerto X^[9] page that gained over 170,000 likes in two days for a tweet on June 23rd. Various news outlets, such as the New York Post,^[17] also reported on the story during that timeframe.

Redditor u/KazeoLion Exposed

On June 23rd, 2025, social media users began digging up information relating to Raines' suicide, with some seeking out the people who allegedly cyberbullied her.

One user who became the subject of exposure was Redditor u/KazeoLion, who had made several negative posts about Raines in the past.

On June 23rd, X^[10] user @obviousmoonman shared a screenshot of KazeoLion's negative post, garnering around 6,000 views in two days.

Word of KazeoLion's alleged involvement in the cyberbullying continued to spread over the following days as users found and shared as much information about them as possible, including evidence that they are zoophilic and claims that they are trans.

That same day, Redditor u/KazeoLion then made a post to the /r/WildlifeRehab^[11] subreddit (that has since been deleted) about everyone blaming them for the death.

Later on June 23rd, 2025, u/KazeoLion made a post on Reddit^[12] titled "I’m not backing down. Fuck off," writing, "All I did was put together a few sources pointing out some things she did wrong. I had no hand in bullying of any kind. Even if I did, you’re no better for calling me slurs, telling me you’re going to dox me and sending me instructions on how to kill myself."

The post was shared by X^[13] user @Xenodromeda on June 24th, garnering over 17,000 likes in a day.

On the same day, X^[14] user @Xenodromeda made another post about KazeoLion, sharing an alleged image of them dressed in Spamton cosplay. The post claims that they have not been doxxed, as all the information shared about them online is publicly available, garnering over 50,000 likes in a day.

Later on June 24th, 2025, X^[15] user @0HOUR1__ made a post sharing further information about KazeoLion, garnering over 15,000 likes in a day.

Allegations that KazeoLion is a zoophile also started to spread online in late June 2025. For example, on June 24th, X^[16] user @2Dziredz posted a screenshot of a 2022 post warning people about KazeoLion's alleged zoophilia, garnering over 6,300 likes in a day.

Search Interest

External References