Fox 'coated in bitumen' healthy after four weeks

The fox cub has been cared for at the hospital and is on the mend, staff said

A fox cub that got covered in bitumen and then stuck to a road surface is healthy and walking again after four weeks of treatment.

Staff from South Essex Wildlife Hospital rushed to the rescue after the cub was pulled from a container of bitumen by workers on an industrial estate in north-east London last month.

It took more than 30 minutes to free each of the cub's legs after it stuck fast to the road.

One of his legs required surgery, but the hospital said the fox was now running around with no sign of a limp, and they were hoping for a full recovery soon.

Bitumen is made from crude oil and is mostly used as a binder in roads.

At the time of the rescue, the hospital said the fox's plight was "one of the most horrific cases we've seen in the 35-plus years of wildlife rescue".

It took several days and many bottles of baby oil and WD-40 to clean the tar-like substance from its fur.

The hospital said the fox had been stuck on the road at the industrial estate and it took 30 minutes to free each limb

Baby oil and WD-40 were used on the animal to try and soften and dissolve the bitumen

However, after a great deal of care and an operation, the hospital posted on its Facebook page and said the fox was on the mend.

"It's been four weeks since the surgery to fix his leg (after all the work needed to remove the bitumen from his fur) and we're delighted to say that everything seems to be healing perfectly," it wrote.

"He is now so confident on the leg that he can run around his pen without any sign of a limp."

They added that while it had taken a lot of work to nurse him back to health, "he now has a bright future ahead of him".

"He still needs to recover from some muscle loss, but we are very confident that he will be 100% fixed very soon," they said.

When the cub is deemed ready, it will be released back into the wild.

The fox needed surgery on its leg