At around 3am on Thursday morning last week, Brighton resident Lollie and her partner were suddenly woken by screaming and yapping coming from outside their home.
“We knew it was a fox because we have heard them in the street before,” said Lollie. “We looked out of our bedroom window and shone a torch into our small courtyard garden. That was when we saw a young fox desperately trying to get out.”
The fox cub had somehow fallen into the enclosed courtyard and was repeatedly trying to jump up the walls. Unfortunately, they were simply too high for it to escape.
“We were very worried because it just could not get up the walls, and we were frightened it might hurt itself. We didn’t really know what to do, so we searched online and found East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service.
“We felt incredibly relieved to know that someone was willing to help and that the fox would be in safe hands.”
WRAS rescuers Kristy and Trevor attended and carefully caught the distressed cub.
“The rescuers were very calm and knew exactly what to do,” Lollie continued. “They placed a blanket over the fox so it felt calm and safe. I was very impressed by how quickly and calmly they caught it.
“We are so grateful to have such an amazing service in East Sussex. We really don’t know what we would have done without them.”
Once the cub was safely contained, Kristy and Trevor found a pathway just around the corner which foxes were clearly using to reach the gardens above the courtyard.
As the roads were extremely quiet at that time of the morning, they were able to release the cub straight away.
The youngster ran out of the cage, paused inquisitively to look back at the rescuers and then calmly trotted away.
But the story did not end there.
As Kristy and Trevor followed the cub’s route back towards the ambulance, an adult fox suddenly ran across the road and joined it. The pair greeted one another before walking off together along the quiet street.
“It was such a heartwarming moment,” said Kristy. “After seeing how frightened and distressed the cub had been, watching the two foxes greet each other and trot off down the road together was just lovely. It was the perfect ending to the rescue.”
For more information about the fabulous work done by WRAS, visit here.
