Rescue
We're sure you are as frustrated at reading these rescue stories, as we are at writing them.
After receiving quite a shocking video from a local primary school, we headed over to yet another fox cub in netting last week.
This time, the young cub nicknamed "Harry", had not only got a front leg and a back leg entangled, but he'd also managed to get the coarse netting wrapped tightly around his muzzle, preventing him from even being able to close his mouth.
Being a hot day, the cub was clearly in a lot of distress, and we had to work quickly to get him untangled, and cooled down. Once all the netting was removed, the impact of it became quickly evident through his extremely swollen muzzle.
Rehabilitation
Once back at the centre, Harry was anaesthetised to not only help reduce his stress, but to ensure we could give him a full examination, including any internal damage to his face.
Incredibly and much to all our surprises, despite having a severely inflamed muzzle and gums, he had managed to avoid any serious breaks, but it was now going to be a waiting game for the breakdown of any constriction wounds.
Harry was started on a course of anti-inflammatories to help reduce the large swelling around his face, and was given supportive fluids to help with the shock of his horrible ordeal.
Whilst we patiently waited for any ligature wounds to show themselves, Harry was letting us know regularly, he wanted out! But, unfortunately the issue with constriction injuries is that they can develop anywhere up to 10 days after the initial incident, and are largely dependent on how long the skin has been constricted for.
Release
After 6 days in care, Harry was given another full check by vet Marco, where he was extremely happy to find no signs of any ligature wounds breaking down. With Harry eating well and behaving just like a fox cub should, we were happy for him to head home, much to the delight of the school too!
Check out Harry's full story in the video below!
