Thieves steal two foxes after breaking into Cheshire wildlife hospital

Volunteers 'devastated' after tame animals snatched by intruders

A pair of foxes have been stolen from a wildlife hospital in Cheshire.

The tame animals, named Alice and Rift, were snatched by intruders who broke open their pens at Lower Moss Wood Educational Nature Reserve and Wildlife Hospital, near Knutsford.

Owner Ray Jackson, 62, told The Independent volunteers who cared for the foxes were “devastated”.

“It’s so upsetting,” he said. “Words can’t say how bad I feel.”

The foxes disappeared overnight on Friday. Volunteers found their pens empty and the locks of their doors smashed the following morning.

Mr Jackson, who has run the hospital for 30 years, said: “I presume [thieves] have actually stolen them rather than let them go, because if they let them go they’d still be around. They were totally tame animals.”

Alice had been at the sanctuary for three years after becoming a "handful" for someone who found her as a cub and raised her in their home. Mr Jackson named the “totally loveable” fox after his mother, who had recently died.

Rift, a small male fox, was taken in by the hospital after being found with bite injuries late last year.

The foxes featured in an episode of the BBC programme Countryfile over the weekend. The episode was filmed before the theft.

Thieves have targeted the wildlife centre before, stealing another fox three years ago.

“I didn’t think it would happen again,” Mr Jackson said. “I can’t comprehend it at all. All we do at the nature reserve is teach children about wildlife - I have classes of kids coming from schools – and we have a wildlife hospital. I don’t get into conflict with anybody.”

He added: “I live on site, on my own, in my caravan with my two dogs, so I don’t feel that safe at the moment.”

Cheshire Police confirmed it was investigating a report of two foxes "having been released or stolen".

A fundraising page set up in response to the break-in has raised nearly £10,000 in two days. The money will be used to fund CCTV cameras, alarms and secure enclosures at the wildlife hospital.