An unexpected fox cub

At ten o’clock this morning my front door bell rang. Outside was a woman with a dog on a lead—probably heading down to the nearby park to walk the dog—and a small bundle of fur in her hands: I found this dying kitten just near your house - can you make sure it’s ok? I don’t have a car.

I said yes, took the little bundle of fur and looked into a face that wasn’t a kitten’s - it was a little fox cub, probably a couple of weeks old—probably hungry, tired, and scared—but not apparently dying. By that time the woman had already gone.

Now the advice on finding a seemingly abandoned fox cub is to leave it be—keep an eye on it, call a wildlife rescue organisation, and only move it if it’s in immediate danger—but it was already too late because the fluffy ball of fur had already been handed to me, and I wasn’t exactly sure where the lady had found it. I do live on a busy road, so if it had been staggering around close to that then it was probably in immediate danger of getting run over. But anyway…

So I put the poor little blighter in my living room where he wandered around in that clumsy young-animal way, calling for his mother while I rang—after a quick internet search—Bexhill Wildlife Rescue. They didn’t have any volunteers available to collect him, but they did give me the details for Wildlife Matters Rescue who did, and a young lady came to pick him up shortly after.

He’s now being reared at Mallydams Wood wildlife rehabilitation centre, where hopefully he’ll be released into the wild when he’s old enough to fend for himself.

I’d like to thank Bexhill Wildlife Rescue, Wildlife Matter Rescue, and Mallydams Wood centre for co-ordinating with each other to help this little fox cub and give him a chance. They all have donation links on their pages (links above) if you can afford to give them some money.