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Fox's lucky escape

Katherine Vine
9/ 5/2008

FIREFIGHTERS refused to be be out-foxed when they were called out to rescue a fox cub stuck down a drain in a supermarket car park.

Staff at Tesco on Manor Road called the RSPCA in the early hours of the morning on Sunday May 4, saying they could hear a dog or a fox barking from within the drain.

When animal collection officer Sonia Hulme arrived on the scene, she realised she was going to have to ask the fire brigade for assistance.

She said: "The fire brigade came out and they brought a snake eye camera so they could have a look.

"When they realised what had happened they decided it would be best to wait until the morning before attempting to get it out.

"It was in an access pipe. They took the lid off the drain and we managed to persuade it to come out – which was a relief, as at one point we thought we would have to dig all the pipes up."

According to Sonia it looked as though the entrance to the pipes had just been left open, and the fox cub – who was christened Samantha by her rescuers – had fallen in.

Samantha, who has unharmed by her experience, has now been taken to the RSPCA rescue centre in Stapeley Grange where she will be hand reared until she is ready to be released into the wild.