The other day, rescuers from Wildlife Aid Foundation in England received a call for help from a concerned Good Samaritan. The person reported seeing a little fox cub running around frantically with a jar on his head — and even more worrying was the cub’s mom’s reaction to the whole ordeal.
The anxious mother was determined to help her baby and tried everything she could to remove the jar from his head herself. But sadly, she wasn’t successful.
“[D]espite trying desperately, the mom was unable to remove it,” Wildlife Aid wrote on Facebook.
The mom was just as distraught as her baby, as every attempt to remove the aluminum jar from his head failed. Thankfully, Wildlife Aid rescuers Mike and Jack rushed to the scene and quickly jumped in to help.
Seizing an opportunity when the cub’s mom had briefly run off, Mike and Jack scooped up the baby fox and carried him to their rescue truck. They quickly realized they wouldn’t be able to pull the jar off his head safely, so they grabbed a pair of scissors and began cutting around his neck.
The team worked carefully, going one slice at a time. With each cut they made, they bent the aluminum away from the cub’s neck and attempted to free him. But even after the first few slices, his head wouldn’t budge.
“His head was firmly stuck, and the jar was tricky to remove," Wildlife Aid said in the Facebook video.
But Mike and Jack weren’t giving up. They kept cutting and bending the aluminum jar until, finally, the little cub’s head popped loose.
“Hello, little guy!” one of the rescuers said to the cub as soon as he was freed.
You can watch that footage here:
The fox cub was a little stunned, and the fur around his face was damp. But thankfully he wasn’t hurt, which meant he could return to his loved ones right away, whom he was desperate to see again.
“With no injuries [whatsoever], he was ready to go straight back to mom,” Wildlife Aid wrote. “He was raring to go back home.”
Without skipping a beat, the rescuers carried the fox cub back to the garden where he’d been found and placed him on the grass. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the fox cub leaped back to his den to reunite with his mom.
“[They] watched him scamper off to tell her the story!” Wildlife Aid wrote.
With the fox cub safe at home, the Wildlife Aid team moved on to their next rescue of the day, feeling thankful to have saved the little guy just in time.
While this poor baby will likely not be the last animal they rescue from a stuck jar, the Wildlife Aid team will always remember him fondly as a strong little cub with an even more determined mother. And they hope his story will encourage others to properly dispose of their trash for the sake of the wildlife around them.
