These heartbreaking photographs show a stricken fox cub who got her head wedged in a discarded camper van wheel while fleeing a dog attack – and remained there for hours.
The poor animal was so firmly stuck that she had to be carried to a nearby vet with her unusual headgear still attached.
RSPCA inspectors tried in vain to free the young fox using olive oil and washing up liquid after a Hounslow man spotted her in his back garden on Sunday.
Eventually, she was released after being sedated.
After freeing her, the charity found blood and puncture wounds on her – which they say are consistent with a dog attack.
The RSPCA’s Lauren Evans said: “It is possible she had been chased and was trying to escape when it happened.
“We don’t know how long she had been like this, or indeed if she had been attacked whilst in this predicament, but it seems likely it was at least since the night before as she was clearly tired from having struggled to free herself for some time.
“This poor fox’s face was so swollen we really struggled to get her out of the space she was jammed in, even after trying lubricants such as olive oil and washing up liquid. In the end we carried her to my van to be transported to the vet’s with the wheel still around her. There she could be sedated and removed from it.
“This young fox is likely to have starved to death if this thoughtful member of the public had not called us and then done all he could to help me rescue her.”
She added discarded items like old tyres and other litter could be “a real death trap for wildlife” and urged householders to keep their gardens free of clutter.
