Fox injured after foot caught in metal trap

The injured male fox was discovered by a gardener at Hollywynd Rest Home, in St Botolph’s Road, Worthing, on Friday.

The gardener contacted Billy Elliot, senior animal rescue officer at WADARS, who managed to take the fox to Northdale Veterinary Practice, in Victoria Road, Worthing, for immediate treatment.

Mr Elliot said: “It was very distressed. This trap was probably put out to catch rats I would imagine. It’s quite a vicious trap even for a rat.”

When the fox arrived at the vets it had ‘three puncture wounds’ and was ‘bleeding quite badly’.

It was cleaned up and given pain relief before Mr Elliot took it to Grove Lodge Vets over the weekend.

He said the fox’s foot remained ‘quite badly swollen’. The fox has been taken to Brent Lodge Wildlife Hospital, in Sidlesham, where Mr Elliot expects the fox to make a full recovery.

“It’s fortunate the fox was spotted so soon. In a few day’s time it would have cut off the blood supply, infection would have set in and we would have had to put him to sleep,” said Mr Elliot.

The trap was described as ‘half-a-dozen times the size of a mouse’.

“There are better ways of disposing of vermin. It’s quite a serious piece of kit and can cause untold suffering.”

Mr Elliot added that a professional should be consulted before placing traps.