Animal carers at Secret World Wildlife Rescue have their hands full this week with twenty-five orphaned fox cubs to look after, including one little mite that was handed in to a cat refuge by mistake.

The Somerset charity has been inundated with sick and orphaned fox cubs over the past two weeks.  Five of the cubs were found under a shed two weeks ago when the homeowner was doing some garden renovations. Unfortunately as the cubs were disturbed, the mother did not return to them, so Secret World decided it was time to step in and rescue the little foxes.

“We’d much rather have seen the fox cubs reunited with their mother and a rescue can often be avoided, said Leigh Thomas, wildlife hospital section leader at Secret World.

"If you disturb a group of fox cubs, usually the best thing to do is to clear the area of people and leave the cubs alone for a couple of hours to give the mother a chance to move them to a safer place.

"This recommendation can vary according to weather conditions and age of the cubs however, so we suggest that you always seek advice from a wildlife rescue centre to find out the best course of action. “

The cubs are now about four weeks old and they’re doing really well.

Animal carers Debbie O’Keefe and Judith Andrews have been hand rearing them, first bottle feeding them with puppy milk and now a mixture of solid puppy food and milk which will help them make the transition to a solid food diet.

“The puppy food is really important and we need loads of it at the moment with all these hungry fox cubs to feed!” says Leigh.

The foxes will be released back into the wild towards the end of the summer when they are strong enough to thrive on their own. Until then, they will gradually become more independent by reducing the contact they have with humans, and moving them into larger outdoor pens.

To donate or adopt a fox visit at www.secretworld.org/fox.