I had just finished changing Dan’s mid day nappy out in the paddock when I noticed an orange shape in the grass a short distance away. At first I thought it might be my neighbour’s ginger cat, who can often be found sunning himself in my paddock, but as I approached I saw that the ginger figure wasn’t a cat at all it was a small fox. The fox was lying down on her side and appeared to be sleeping out in the open which was very odd. As I approached her she didn’t get up and run off as I had expected her to do, instead she stayed sleeping. I called out to her softly to see if she would wake up. She opened her beautiful clear amber eyes and stared at me in an alert manner but instead of running away her head flopped back down and she closed her eyes again so I immediately knew something was not right.
It was very likely that she was one of the three foxes that were coming regularly to my paddock to be fed in the evenings. Most recently I had noticed the third little shy fox who kept far back from the fence while the other braver two would sit a lot closer to my garden and wait for me to dish their dinner up. She didn’t come every night, like the other two, but I had started leaving a third bowl of food out every night for her just in case.
It is very difficult to know what to do for the best with distressed wildlife as they will get very stressed by the presence of humans and it is very easy to do more harm than good when trying to assist them. I decided to get my husband’s opinion as to what we should do for the best so went back to the house to get him. When we got back out again we saw that the little fox was still there but she was having a severe fitting episode. Her body was shaking all over and she had a big spasm where she went all rigid and stretched out with her face fixed in a ghastly grimace. Then she rolled over and was shaking again. We decided to call the RSPCA and in the mean time as it was such a freezing cold day we got a couple of old coats to cover her with so she didn’t get too cold. One of the coats was waterproof so she would also be dry if it rained. I had also noticed a magpie eyeing her up from a short distance away, so the coats offered her protection from any attacks as as soon as she was covered up the magpie lost interest in her.
I called the RSPCA and told them all about the fox. I asked if there was anything else I could or should do to help the poor animal but the operator said I had done everything I could and they would get an RSPCA inspector out as soon as possible. They asked me to keep checking on the fox and to let them know if she disappeared or died before the inspector could get to me. Luckily they had someone not too far away and she was able to get to us within an hour. I really hoped they would be able to do something to help the fox and that she would be able to be taken to a wildlife rescue centre to recover from whatever was ailing her.
When the inspector arrived we filled her in on what had happened, but as we approached we could see that the little fox was still shaking and as she had been fitting continuously for over an hour by that time the RSPCA inspector said it was a very bad sign and indicative of a very serious problem and the kindest thing to do for her was to put her out of her suffering. She said the most likely thing wrong with the fox was Toxoplasmosis a common condition caused by an internal parasite which can affect the fox's lungs (causing pneumonia), its liver (causing hepatitis), its eyes, its central nervous system and various other parts of its body. As a result of this, foxes with Toxoplasmosis can show blindness, incoordination, extreme sensitivity to touch, personality change, circling, seizures, and difficulty in chewing and swallowing food.
After the RSPCA inspector had put the fox to sleep we could determine that she was indeed a little female and approximately 2 or 3 years old. Her lovely russet coat was actually very rich and in very good condition, which made it all even more sad. The inspector thanked us for what we had done to try to help the fox and asked us to contact them again if we came across any more foxes in distress, then she left taking the poor little fox with her. The end of another short hard life, which is the fate of so many of our beautiful wild creatures.
That evening there were only 2 bowls of food left out in the paddock.