Craig Mcgettrick had an unexpected encounter while clearing waste from a garden in England with a friend. They stumbled upon an old mattress that they needed to move, but little did they know what lay beneath it.
To their astonishment, they discovered five tiny puppies hidden under the mattress. This remarkable find likely left quite an impression on Craig and his friend as they went about their day.
Craig took action after discovering the puppies, reaching out to a nearby animal shelter and sharing pictures on Facebook to help find them a new home. However, just hours later, he would learn an unexpected truth about the tiny creatures, which changed the entire situation.
Back in 2017, on an otherwise ordinary day, Craig was assisting his friend in cleaning up their neighborhood. It was during this cleanup that they made the surprising discovery. Under a mattress, they found what appeared to be five small puppies or possibly kittens.
”Those were probably the only two options I knew of,” Mcgettrick told The Dodo and added, ”We thought someone had dumped them knowing we were going to remove rubbish.”
After discovering the tiny puppies, Craig took them under his care and reached out to a local animal shelter for assistance. Before handing them over, he shared photos of the adorable creatures on Facebook in the hope of finding new owners.
The pictures gained attention and eventually caught the eye of Martin Hemmington, founder of the National Fox Welfare Society. Upon seeing the images, Martin promptly contacted Craig, but not for the reason one might expect – he didn’t want to adopt the puppies.
“We were contacted by a lovely lady called Beccie through our Facebook Page; Beccie had sent a few photos asking if the babies in the photos were indeed fox cubs,” Hemmington wrote in a Facebook post. “We confirmed they certainly were. Beccie advised us that they had been taken to a rescue center in Liverpool mistakenly as puppies, not fox cubs.”
To Craig’s surprise, the animals he thought were puppies were actually five fox cubs. Paul McDonald, a local rescuer known as “The Fox Man,” explained to The Dodo that fox cubs often don’t resemble foxes at first, leading people to mistake them for dog puppies.
Martin Hemmington contacted Paul for help, and together they ensured that the fox cubs were a little hungry. This would prompt the cubs to start making beeping noises, calling out for their mother.
Paul returned the fox cubs to the same location where Craig had initially found them and placed them back carefully. Soon after, they observed a fox approaching the cubs— their mother had been reunited with her precious babies.
Paul McDonald explained that it is common for vixens to leave their cubs in the den while they go out, and as the cubs grow older, they start exploring their surroundings more, gradually becoming less dependent on their mother.
Thanks to the efforts of Craig, Beccie, Martin, and everyone who shared the photos, the mother fox was able to reunite with her beloved cubs—a heartwarming outcome for all involved.
