A volunteer at the Seaford Museum had a shock when they discovered a fox inside the museum today (6th August 2013). The popular old Martello Tower Museum on Seaford's seafront has seen many visitors over the years, but they weren't expecting to find a fox visiting.
John Bond, a volunteer from the Museum called East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) for assistance once volunteers had managed to corner the fox behind an old organ. "We think the fox may have jumped down into the moat and probably hid up until a door was opened where he then entered the museum. He would not have been able to jump up and out of the moat as the walls are too high. Knowing how difficult they can be to handled we called out WRAS knowing they would be able to safely deal with the situation for us. " explained John.
Trevor Weeks MBE and fellow rescuer Robert McCart attended on site and were led down the circular stairs into the depths of the museum, to find the fox. "This is a first for me, I've never had to rescue a fox from such an unusual location before," said Trevor, "foxes get themselves into all sorts of odd locations and we've had then on roof tops, in cellars, in wall cavities, drains, and shop ceilings."
The volunteers at the museum had done a great job in cornering and containing the fox behind an old organ, making the rescuers job more simple. Boxes and boards had been placed either side of the organ to keep the fox contained. Using a dog grasper Trevor tried to secure the fox which was very lively. It took numerous attempts as the fox kept biting the grasper preventing Trevor from getting the grasper over the fox's head. Rescuers took about 15 minutes to secure the fox which was then placed onto a blanket and checked over.
"There didn't appear to be any problems with the fox which was a juvenile, born earlier this year" added Trevor, "we placed the fox into a secure cage, gave him a quick check over before Robert and I carried the fox up the stairs and out to the waiting ambulance. We obviously couldn't just release the fox outside as on such a sunny day the beach and seafront were very busy, the fox was driven back to WRAS's Casualty Care Centre at Whitesmith for the day and given food and water."
WRAS plan to release the fox tonight back in Seaford outside the museum. We are often asked why we return them, but they need to be in their home range, where they know the food sources and places of safety, relocating any wild animal or bird and dumping it in an area it doesn't know would be an offence under the Abandonment of Animals Act.
"We would like to thank volunteers at the Seaford Museum for being so helpful and kind in assisting with this rescue, and urge anyone who hasn't been to the museum to pay it a visit too" said Trevor.
History of Seaford's Martello Tower
Seaford Museum is housed in Martello Tower number 74 and is situated on the Esplanade in Seaford, East Sussex. The Tower is the most westerly of a line of defensive fortifications built along the Kent and Sussex coast during the Napoleonic Wars. The Tower is a round two-storey structure surrounded by a dry, brick-lined moat. It was constructed between 1806 and 1810.
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WRAS Media Contact: 07931-523958 | Office: 01825-873003
Photos and Video taken by East Sussex WRAS.
A copy of the rescue video without titles and logo can be downloaded for media use at: http://bit.ly/197Hhtz
