Rescue
Leg injuries are pretty common in foxes, what with all their daredevil balancing acts. But, often, with a little bit of support and time, many of them can recover without needing to come into care. Unfortunately, this was certainly not the case for "Chap".
When we received the video of him confined in a garden, the injury he had sustained to his rear leg was glaringly in need of medical intervention, as soon as possible. Thankfully, the brave callers had managed to get Chap into a crate, making rescuer Jill’s job a lot quicker in getting him to us.
Rehabilitation
Our vet team assessed the injury, cleared the leg of any fractures and began the task of debriding the leg and removing as much of the dead tissue as possible.
Over the following few days, Chap received daily wound management and antibiotics for the infection, with the hope that he was rescued in time for us to save his leg.
After 10 days Chap's leg was healing so well that he was downgraded from daily wound cleans to just a couple of checks and cleans, a week.
Chap displayed typical urban fox behaviour, filled with curiosity, which likely contributed to his injury. Having shown his boredom pretty quickly of being confined, his movement around pens and need for enrichment to keep him occupied whilst his leg healed, became our rehab teams next challenge.
Release
As is often the case when working with wildlife, weighing up the need for them to recover and the concern of them hurting themselves in care, yes wildlife can be that determined to be free, the decision had to be made for Chap, that thankfully with his wound now only superficial, he needed to be returned to his territory asap!
So after two weeks in care, Chap was released back home, in time to start wooing the ladies!
Stay safe, Chap!
