A wildlife hospital says treating a fox cub who got covered in bitumen and stuck to a road is “one of the most horrific” cases it had seen in three decades.
Rescuers were called out to find the animal caked in black gloop on an industrial estate in Lea Bridge, east London on Thursday.
South Essex Wildlife Hospital said the three-month-old mammal had been struggling to free himself for four hours after falling into a container of bitumen, a substance similar to tar.
Nearby workers heard his screeching but he then became stuck to a road close to the Hackney Marshes site.
Staff hoped to be able to free the fox this week so there’s a chance of reuniting him with his mother, who witnesses saw desperately trying to rescue her cub around 7pm.
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Bitumen is made from crude oil and is mostly used as a binder in roads.
On their Facebook page, the hospital said it was “one of the most horrific cases we’ve seen in 35+ years of wildlife rescue”.
Operations manager Lawrie Brailey added workers who found the fox had looked up what to do online and started using baby oil to try to free him before professionals arrived.
Mr Brailey said the adhesion was so strong that one bad pull could have easily broken a leg - or worse.
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Back at the hospital in Orsett near Grays, more baby oil - awkwardly bought at a nearbyTesco - and WD-40 was used to soften and dissolve the tar-like substance.
However, the hospital said the sedated fox’s coat was so matted in some places that the fur had to be cut off.
Mr Brailey said: “There is minor staining to the fur... [but] now he looks like a fox, with a couple of patches missing.”
“He seems to be fine and is now eating, urinating and defecating.”
A spokesperson added: “This is just the start of a very long process (cleaning sessions are limited by stress and the risk of hypothermia) and there is still the worry of ingestion or toxicity, but we are absolutely determined to give this boy a chance.”
