Fox rescued from sea off Eastbourne

So cold the thermometer wouldn't give reading

July 2010: Just after midnight early on Sunday morning Trevor Weeks of Wildlife Rescue Ambulance Service (WRAS) was woken by call from Eastbourne's Sovereign Harbour where a fox had been found floating in the sea.

WET AND COLD: The bedraggled fox is taken to WRAS Casualty Care Centre

WRAS rescuer Tony Neads rushed to the scene and was confronted with an extremely poorly young fox. He immediately wrapped the cold, wet animal in a blanket to try to warm it up and rushed it up to WRAS Casualty Care Centre at Whitesmith. The fox was so cold that its temperature would not register on the thermometer. Although it was still breathing - very slowly - it was clearly not aware of its surroundings. The fox was given emergency medication and placed on heat pads for the night.

It was as if nothing had happened
‘The following morning we thought someone must have changed put a different fox in the cage,' says Trevor Weeks. ‘He had dried out, was up and about, standing and eating as if nothing had happened.'

A DIFFERENT ANIMAL: By morning it had made a dramatic recovery

The fox has been kept in at WRAS's Casualty Care Centre until its release on the seafront at Sovereign Harbour.

‘This is an amazing story and just shows you how resilient wildlife can be. With all the bad publicity foxes have been given recently, this is a good news story for a change. WRAS would like to thank Sovereign Harbour office and the boat owner for their help and for taking the time to pull the fox from the water and look after it till Tony could arrive. This fox would be dead if it was not for their actions,' said Trevor Weeks.