Back in 2012, London-based artist and taxidermist Adele Morse received a fox that met its end in a bear trap, left to fade away into the forest floor before it was packed in a box and shipped to her door. Giving it a new take on life, Morse decided to use the fox while honing her craft but found its mangled carcass less than ideal and troublesome to work with.

Nevertheless, she did come up with something, although even she admitted it was a face only a mother could love, and thus the Stoned Fox was born. Sitting in obscurity before being auctioned off online, Morse’s creation would send her on a whirlwind journey of insane events no one could’ve predicted, from death threats to Russian media attention that almost labeled her as a spy from MI5. To hear this enthralling tale, we caught up with her to dig into the full backstory of the Stoned Fox meme, as well as what she’s currently up to.