A cub found himself outfoxed by a vase after getting his head stuck inside the pot.
RSPCA animal collection officer Joe White was called to Dengayne, Basildon, after a resident found the distressed cub stuck fast in the ceramic vase.
He said: “The woman found the poor cub distressed and disorientated in her garden with this large, heavy pot stuck on his head. She was worried that he couldn’t breathe so she smashed the end of the vase and called us for help.
“The poor thing was exhausted as the pot was very heavy and we have no idea how long he’d been carrying it around for. I rushed him to the wonderful team at South Essex Wildlife Hospital and we managed to wriggle the little fox free.
“From the looks of it, he had pushed his head into the vase and couldn’t pull his head back out because his ears are so big!
“The caller had never seen the vase before so the cub must have found it discarded somewhere under a bush or something.”
The cub stayed in the hospital overnight and Joe returned him the following evening.
“He was filthy so he had a bath and was monitored overnight but, thankfully, didn’t seem too worse for wear,” Joe added. “The fox’s den is in the woman’s garden so we released him back where he was found so he could return to his mother and littermates.”