Residents of a neighborhood in Glenfield, a village in England, started hearing strange barking sounds and found it a bit odd. They thought perhaps someone had gotten a new dog, but when the sound didn’t stop, they decided to investigate. The group traced the barks to a storm drain — and found someone trapped inside.
A tiny fox cub was trapped 6 feet down inside the drain. The residents tried to help him climb out, but the drain was just too deep. The mama fox was actually nearby, pacing anxiously and waiting for someone to free her son, who’d been stuck for over 24 hours. Wanting to do something, the group contacted the RSPCA for help.
“His poor mum must have been beside herself with worry,” Beckie Harlock, an inspector with the RSPCA, told The Dodo. “We’re not quite sure how he got down there, but as it was pretty deep, I needed expert help, so I contacted Leicestershire Fire & Rescue, who were brilliant.”
Once the fire department arrived, a member of their team lowered himself down into the drain, placed the baby fox into a carrier, then brought him up to safety. Harlock checked the fox cub over and was surprised and delighted to find that he hadn’t been injured, just shaken up. Since the mom fox had been seen lingering nearby, everyone agreed on a plan to try and reunite the baby with his mom.
The rescue team left the fox in the carrier, hoping his mom would hear his cries, and the plan worked. Once she had seen where her fox cub was, rescuers removed the cover so the baby fox could run off and rejoin his mom.
“It wasn’t long before the young fox realised he could now jump out of the carrier, and he soon went looking for his mum, who was nearby,” Harlock said. “Amazingly, after a short while, they found each other and happily disappeared together, presumably towards their den. This was such a perfect result!”
