By Phil Coleman

Last updated 12:00, Wednesday, 21 May 2008

WHEN a Cumbrian farmer spotted a dying fox cub on his land you might have thought its days were numbered.

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Sam the Alsatian-cross gives Ninja the fox cub a lick at the Knoxwood Animal Wildlife Rescue Centre

But he took pity on the tiny creature, which was suffering from severe dehydration, and delivered it safely to an animal rescue organisation.

The farmer took the cub to the home of animal lover Pat Denny, 66, who runs a small refuge in her garden in Hawcoat, south Cumbria, at her own expense.

She looked after him for two days, spending the first night feeding it goat’s milk once every 20 minutes.

The RSPCA had paid for emergency treatment for the cub’s dehydration.

Mrs Denny then handed over the cub – named Ninja because of its fighting spirit – to Knoxwood Animal Wildlife Rescue Centre near Wigton.

Emma Scott, who runs the centre with her father George, said: “It’s fantastic that the cub was saved by a farmer. A lot of farmers would have just banged him on the head and that would have been that.

“When Pat took him in he was as near to death’s door as he possibly could have been suffering malnutrition and dehydration.”

George, who founded the centre, said: “We’ve had other farmers bring animals to us.

“One arrived in his Land Rover and got out holding his flat cap in his hand.

“He asked if we could do anything with what he had inside his hat – four wild baby rabbits.

“He’d dug them up when he was ploughing some land.”

He praised Emma’s dedication in nursing Ninja back to full health.

He is now one of three foxes at the rescue centre.

But unlike the other two foxes, Ninja is likely to remain at Knoxwood because he had to be hand reared and as a consequence became tame. He also suffered some damage to his eyesight.

George added: “He was probably about 10 days old when he was found and if it had been another 12 hours he probably wouldn’t have survived.

“He’s now spending a lot of time running around with our Alsatian-cross Sam – he just wants to be his pal.”

Wherever possible, Knoxwood aims to return animals to the wild.

The centre, which has a state-of-the-art animal hospital, regularly treats wildlife casualties, many of which are brought to the centre by the RSPCA.