YouTuber Mikayla Raines's Husband Was the First to Announce That She Had Died

In a stunning and emotional video, Mikayla Raines's husband, Ethan, announced that she died by suicide. Mikayla, who was best known as a YouTuber with a passion for rescuing foxes, was just 29 years old.

Following the news of her death, many people wanted to better understand Mikayla's life, including who her husband was. Ethan clearly loved his wife a great deal, so here's what we know about him and what he said about her death.

Mikayla's husband Ethan was not as public facing as she was, but in a video posted to Instagram, he announced that she had died by suicide "a couple days ago."

In the video, Ethan said that Mikayla was "one of the most selfless people I have ever known."

“As many of you know she was on the autism spectrum and while that made her life very difficult, it allowed her to hyperfocus on one thing, and that one thing was obviously animals,” he explained.

Mikayla started a YouTube channel that had more than 2.4 million subscribers, and Ethan said that she was "so sensitive to everything," which could be a "double-edged sword."

“On one hand, it allowed her endless empathy for those in her care. But it also means that she took everything negative to heart,” he explained.

Ethan explained that in recent years, Mikayla and her nonprofit Saveafox had become the target of an online bullying campaign.

He added that some in that campaign were people that they knew, including people who ran other animal sanctuaries.

“[Mikayla] felt as if the entire world had turned against her,” Ethan said. “She couldn’t bear what she was feeling any longer. And she ended her life. And it breaks my heart that is selfless and devoted her life to animals could have so much negativity pointed at her."

Mikayla was known in large part for her animal sanctuary Saveafox, which she founded when she was just 20 years old in 2017. The nonprofit's goal is to rescue foxes and other animals from fur farms, and over the years, she has helped to rehabilitate thousands of foxes and other animals. The nonprofit's success fed into the success of her YouTube channel, earning her a substantial following.

Ethan explained that he performed CPR on his wife for 15 minutes before emergency responders arrived, and added that he wished those who had attacked her and the sanctuary could appreciate all the pain they had caused.

"I wish you understood what you were doing before you did it before it had to go this far, and I wish you understood that words do have real and terrible consequences," he 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 and to everyone else please," he added.

Ethan also encouraged those watching to look out for their loved ones and look for signs of trouble. He and Mikayla shared one daughter, Freya.