This is the comical moment a cunning fox was caught on camera stealing leftover sausages to feed to her hungry cubs.
The cheeky female fox managed to fit five bangers in her mouth in one go after pinching them from woodland near Castle Donington, Leics.
Rather than gobbling them down, the selfless mum took them back to her den to feed her three young cubs - despite her appearing desperately thin herself.
Andy Campbell, 37, captured the moving sight after setting up a Go-Pro camera near to East Midlands Airport last Friday (22/5).
The footage shows the curious fox carefully picking up each sausage, resisting the urge to scoff them down and sacrificing her own needs for the sake of her young.
Andy, of Clifton, said: "I went out there and set up a Go Pro camera on a low level tripod because I’d seen the fox hunting and scavenging with her cubs at night.
“I left it for six hours at night, but when I came back later and watched it I saw within 20 minutes she had arrived. That was how hungry she was.
“I had expected her to wolf them all down at once like a hungry dog. She must be starving, so I was really surprised.
“The way she picks them up so carefully and tries to fit all of them in her mouth is moving and poignant.
“She is so dedicated, she pulls at the last one for a while to try to take it with her.
"She has got three cubs and I have seen them all together. They are very healthy and right little porkers.
"They are clearly being well fed and she is giving almost everything she finds to her young. I’ve seen her since looking like a stray cat with her ribs sticking out.
“This amazing footage shows the balance of survival for animals.
“Their survival is dependent on hunting but also what we leave behind like it is for crows and scavengers.
“It is a quality that is probably not relatable to humans anymore, with such an abundance of water and food we often don’t give a second thought to."
Security guard Andy cooked the M&S sausages before placing them in a small wooded area near the A453 dual carriageway along with his camera.
He added: “At the moment their natural hunting area has been reduced because there is less human activity during lockdown.
“It is a very suburban area, a stone’s throw away from a dual carriageway that comes from the East Midlands Airport. It is not remote woodland.
“When I've seen her previously, she was desperately thin and the cubs were following her round and waiting patiently to be fed.
“I cooked the sausages and took them out with the Go Pro to see what happened and if I could get a shot of her with her cubs.
“There were five sausages in total and you can see how she tries to fit them all in.
"They were just a standard pack of pork sausages, I think from Marks and Spencer and reduced to 20p.
“I’m experimenting with going vegan and had them left over in the freezer. I cooked them with mixed herbs and a bit of black pepper.
“I didn’t expect her to find them so fast.
“Initially when I saw her coming for the sausages I was pleased I had a result and that she had found the food.
"But I was amazed when she started tenderly picking them up for her young cubs and resisted having a nibble for herself."
