Five fox cubs rescued from old car wheels in a month in London

Five fox cubs have been rescued from old car wheels in London in a single month.

The RSPCA has issued a warning that foxes can push their heads through wheels looking for food. However, their ears prevent them from getting out again.

Cubs have been rescued from Haringey, Newham, Orpington, Tottenham and Bethnal Green.

The animal welfare charity is urging people to check any old wheels.

Firefighters were called to cut this fox cub's head out of a wheel near Tottenham fire station on 9 May.

A London Fire Brigade spokesperson said: "The fox was calm whilst crews worked to cut away at the wheel and thankfully, he was uninjured.

"The RSPCA handler took the fox back to where they found him and he ran off to find his family."

RSPCA animal welfare officer Nick Jonas has rescued two fox cubs from wheels in east London less than a week apart.

He got one out from a garage in Newham on 5 May and another from a a car repair garage in Bethnal Green on 10 May.

Both foxes were taken to the South Essex Wildlife Hospital to be rehabilitated before they can be released back into the wild.

"In situations like this, there's no time to spare," he said. "They may have been trapped for several days without food or water, so need to be freed as soon as possible.

"There's a bit of a knack to freeing fox cubs when they get their heads caught, as it's their ears that are the problem.

"With both the recent incidents I attended, I found that gently easing the little foxes' ears one-by-one back through the hole made it easy to free the animals."

Mr Jonas said: "Young foxes are incredibly curious and we quite often get called out to deal with ones that have got themselves in a pickle.

"But in my experience, it's quite unusual to get four 'head stuck in wheel' incidents in just one month.

"We're asking the public to be extra vigilant if they keep wheels on their premises. Please store these items carefully and check them regularly, just in case another fox cub traps itself."

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