Normally when I post about a fox it is a dead one. So is this post...well, about a dead fox and a dead cub. Except the dead cub is alive.
Yesterday evening my colleague Zoe Webber told me that she had a call out from Secret World about an injured fox and cub. Arriving at the location she quickly found the vixen and headed off to the vet hospital. Sadly the vixen died enroute and when the local vet hospital examined her there was not that much interest in examining a dead fox -it was either road traffic or a birthing problem that killed her. Zoe was asked whether she could go and check for the cub which she did and it was found some distance from where the vixen had been but had been in a ditch for 5 hours. The assumption was that the cub was dead after all it was tiny.
The cub was handed to the vets and Zoe was surprised to get a message from Secret World this morning asking her to collect the cub as it was alive!
At the same time I received an email from the vets saying that it was good news;the cub was lively and eating well. At this point I had to check that I was awake.
A message from Zoe showed that she was also surprised but it seems the cub was breathing but not noticably and it was only on a quick check that the vet found this out. Looking at the video Zoe sent it is hard to believe that the cub we had slated for the Fox Death Study was the rather mobile little thing I was looking at.
It still has a fight but Secret World have enough experience so fingers crossed.
This just goes to show why it is important, especially this time of year, to report a good looking conditioned dead fox -there may be cubs nearby, The same applies with badgers.
So sad that the vixen died but we hope to find out how she died. And more than good news that the cub at least stands a chance at life now.
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