One cold evening, a young blind fox was rescued from the side of the road and taken to Geoff Grewcock, who runs Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary.
The fox cub was named Woody and had over 150 ticks in him at the time of rescue, and despite a bleak diagnosis, he recovered.
During his recovery, he would take meals with Orla, a greyhound and would hang out with Bramble, a deer.
Mr Grewcock explained that Woody was brought to the sanctuary after a passer-by spotted him, “he is an outstanding fox – and he thinks he’s a dog.”
“We think his parents just abandoned him, they maybe knew something was up with him and left him.”
Mr Grewcock stayed up at night and fed him every two hours during the peak of his illness. Shortly after he ‘pulled through’ and began life as a ‘house fox.’
Woody then became well acquainted with Bramble the deer who Mr Grewcock allows to roam around and Orla the pet greyhound.
At the sanctuary, which is also Mr Grewcock’s home, he looks after over 80 animals and he says that Woody has become very accustomed to his surroundings.
“The vet said he is about 90% blind,” Mr Grewcock said. “So we’ve had to treat him just like a blind person and because of his sight, we can’t release him, but he’s very happy as a house fox and being with Orla and Bramble.”
When he takes Orla and Woody out for walks, he often gets asked what dog breed Woody is.
“I’ve seen cars go past us and then put on their brakes as they think ‘what’s all that about’?
“He really turns heads. He’s beautiful, and does like custard cream biscuits we’ve discovered.”
When Mr Grewcock retired in 2001, he turned his Nuneaton garden into a wildlife sanctuary. Since then he, his family and his supporters have collectively helped over 62,000 animals, using his pension to fund a lot of the costs.
Recently he has also began a fundraising campaign, to donate click here.
