A tale of two fox cubs
The two cubs, just a few days old, were rescued by Horsham wildlife charity Care for the Wild, where wildlife carer Tarnya Knight took them in and fed them by hand. But the story doesn’t end there:
“We didn’t want to give up the chance that the mother might take one or both of these cubs back,” said Tarnya. “So our volunteer Paul took them back to the garden where they came from and sat out during the evening, hoping that the mother would come back. We kept the cubs warm on heat pads and hoped for the best.
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Hide Ad“Wonderfully, the mother did come back, but she was only able to take the boy, Sooty, back into the trees with her. That’s a great result for us, as people don’t realise that it’s possible to re-unite a mother and cub in this way.
“As for Sweep, she’s back with me now. She’ll soon go to the Fox Project, who will look after her until she’s able to look after herself and be released back into the wild. The brother and sister are going to have very different experiences now, but who knows, maybe they’ll meet each other again one day!”
A video of Sweep being fed can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POA5IwC3YGQ
Care for the Wild is a charity based in Horsham, working on behalf of wildlife in the UK and internationally. For more information see www.careforthewild.com.
Report and picture contributed by Care for the Wild.