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Fox 'coated in bitumen' healthy after four weeks

Helen Burchell
BBC News, Essex
South Essex Wildlife Hospital A fox cub is looking at the camera. He has very large ears and amber-coloured eyes. His ginger and white fur is matted in places. He is standing in some sort of pen and there is newspaper and a towel on the floorSouth Essex Wildlife Hospital
The fox cub has been cared for at the hospital and is on the mend, staff said

A fox cub that got covered in bitumen and then stuck to a road surface is healthy and walking again after four weeks of treatment.

Staff from South Essex Wildlife Hospital rushed to the rescue after the cub was pulled from a container of bitumen by workers on an industrial estate in north-east London last month.

It took more than 30 minutes to free each of the cub's legs after it stuck fast to the road.

One of his legs required surgery, but the hospital said the fox was now running around with no sign of a limp, and they were hoping for a full recovery soon.

Bitumen is made from crude oil and is mostly used as a binder in roads.

At the time of the rescue, the hospital said the fox's plight was "one of the most horrific cases we've seen in the 35-plus years of wildlife rescue".

It took several days and many bottles of baby oil and WD-40 to clean the tar-like substance from its fur.

South Essex Wildlife Hospital An orange fox cub laying on the road with a pink towel underneath its head to support it. The animal's legs are covered in a black sticky tar like substance. South Essex Wildlife Hospital
The hospital said the fox had been stuck on the road at the industrial estate and it took 30 minutes to free each limb
South Essex Wildlife Hospital A fox cub sitting in a cardboard box which is looking in the direction of the camera. It is sitting on a blue towel and is covered in a black tar like substance on its body. South Essex Wildlife Hospital
Baby oil and WD-40 were used on the animal to try and soften and dissolve the bitumen

However, after a great deal of care and an operation, the hospital posted on its Facebook page and said the fox was on the mend.

"It's been four weeks since the surgery to fix his leg (after all the work needed to remove the bitumen from his fur) and we're delighted to say that everything seems to be healing perfectly," it wrote.

"He is now so confident on the leg that he can run around his pen without any sign of a limp."

They added that while it had taken a lot of work to nurse him back to health, "he now has a bright future ahead of him".

"He still needs to recover from some muscle loss, but we are very confident that he will be 100% fixed very soon," they said.

When the cub is deemed ready, it will be released back into the wild.

South Essex Wildlife Hospital Two X-ray images show a leg of a fox. On the left, part of the leg is circled in red to show the damage and on the right an image appears to show surgical pins or similar used by the vetSouth Essex Wildlife Hospital
The fox needed surgery on its leg

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