Rescuers have managed to successfully reunite a family of fox cubs with their mum last night.

Yesterday morning residents in Langney Eastbourne accidentally disturbed the vixen with her about 7-10 day old cubs who had made their home in a disused pond under a board. The owners of the property started clearing the items only to frighten the vixen away. Concerned for the cubs , they contacted East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS).

Rescuer Manager Chris Riddingon freom Eastbourne attended on site and decided because of the amount of disturbance that they could not just be left, so they came into WRAS's Casualty Centre for WRAS founder Trevor Weeks to assess.

"They were in really good condition, had recently been fed, and exceptionally healthy. So we contacted the home owners and got permission to take them back at 7pm and try to reunite them with their mum" said Trevor.

Just before dusk Trevor and Chris took up residence in the garden's summer house, and placed the three cubs in a plastic tub next to where they were originally found.  They were protected from the elements using a thick towel which they had been wrapped in all day to get as much scent on as possible and had heat pads to keep them warm.

Within an hour of rescuers setting up mum appeared and over the next three hours she became more and more brave. The residence of the house had set rescuers a deadline of 10pm as there was no access to the garden other than through the house and they needed to go to bed at 10pm.

Over the next few hours rescuers watched as the vixen became more and more brave getting closer and closer each time. "It did not take her long to realise they were still there, but with the strong winds she was very spooked and hesitant.  It was very close to our deadline and having to leave, so when she was frighten and disappeared for 5 minutes I phoned the owners and asked for an extra 30 minutes of time" said Chris.

"With only 20 minutes of time left and a sudden disturbing noise which made mum run off, Trevor decided one last ditch attempt to get them back to mum so he quickly move the cubs out of the tub for her to take more easily. Within 5 minutes she was back quickly found them and started picking them up one at a time and moving them to a new den" said Chris.

"We were over the moon, watching her for so long getting closer and closer, it was clear she would have taken them from the tub given more time, but the wind was really spooking her. I've hardened up over the last 31 years and I have learnt to hide my emotions wells, but I think both Chris and I had tears of joy in our eyes as she was taking them" said Trevor.

The video was taken using a children night scope camera whilst rescuer hid in a summer house in the garden only about 6ft away from where the cubs were found.

WRAS already has 3 other fox cubs in care and is limited in how many it can take due to a shortage of suitable release sites, so where possible they pull out all the stops to get cubs back to their mums where possible.

"If you find a young mammal hidden in grass or behind bushes in your garden generally we say leave well alone. Vixen frequently move their cubs 2 or 3 times whilst rearing them as the cubs out grow their den, and as she can normally only move them one at a time they are often left hidden up for her to continue moving the next night. However, if unsure please seek advice from your local wildlife rescue.  A very young cub like these can cost well over £250 to rear depending on treatment, complications, need to construct release pens as well as food and bedding, but as with humans, we wouldn't want our children taken away from us, and neither does the vixen want hers taken away either" said Trevor.

Media Version of Video without logos available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X43ScqZ9fVY

Press Contacts:

Trevor Weeks - East Sussex WRAS -01825-873003 or 07931523958

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