South Essex Wildlife Hospital

For those of you suggesting that we allowed this poor fox to suffer, I would like to reassure you that this was not the case. This was filmed while the veterinary staff were preparing the necessary medication. The reason that Sue started the charity 30 odd years ago was to help our poor wildlife who suffer so badly at the hands of humans. Sue has dedicated her whole life to helping wildlife and has rehabilitated, released and eased the suffering of thousands of animals over the years. There is no one else that I know personally that would do what she does 24/7. Our vet is the most compassionate man I know and he works tirelessly behind the scenes in surgery and out on rescues. Any anger here is completely misdirected. We all have a responsibility to help our wildlife. It isn't just in the hands of a team of dedicated volunteers. Poison is still widely available in shops and although it must be accessible only to the target species, i.e. rodents, it is often used incorrectly where other animals can get to it and can accidentally harm wildlife and domestic animals. We often get poisoned cats as well as wildlife. Please put your energy into something positive like campaigning to get poisons banned from public sale. Finally, all of our dedicated volunteers are normal human beings and please imagine the distress when we are confronted with these incidences. To then suggest we prolonged this poor fox's suffering to film it is appaling. If this is hard for you to watch, imagine what it is like dealing with the reality of this day in day out. I would like to apologise to our volunteers who read these negative comments. Finally, for those saying that the people responsible for this act won't see it, our images frequently turn up everywhere and often reach national news. Sharon

I worked at a wildlife hospital for 5 years and I completely understand that there needs to be awareness but I would never have dreamed of standing there videoing an animal suffering to that extent, it would have been euthanised immediately to minimise suffering....

Too many monsters in this world..this is heart breaking Foxes are such lovely animals...weve had dens in our garden over 20 years..families come and go..no harm to.our cats or damage I have to feed ours on front garden as our cat on special diet only..2 or 3 foxes at 10pm.every night trot along our road every night see what treats they find..bless all.their hearts.. Run free over rainbow bridge xxxx

How on earth could anyone stand filming this just to post on social media for 'awareness'??? I am disgusted. I know these things happen, the large majority of people who love and care about animals know. Those who put down poison mostly dont care about the effects. As long as it gets rid of what they consider to be 'vermin' then for them, its a job done. Its beyond me how you could film this and not put this poor animal out of its suffering - Im truly shocked and beyond disgusted.

I think it’s disgusting you’ve stood to video this watching it suffer further!!!! You should have put it out of pain immediately not used it for a poxy video! This is shocking that a wildlife hospital has done this !!!!!!!!!!!!

I do not understand why the outrage and negative comments are not directed toward manufacturers, users, laws and public use of the vast array of poisons available. Shame on you all ! South Essex Wildlife Hospital is kind and compassionate and works to clean up the mess and suffering caused by THE PUBLIC AND CORPORATE USE OF TOXINS. Maybe volunteer for a few months in a wildlife facility and see the horrors that those of us see everyday before accusing wrongly! You don’t want to see this? Well, neither do we. But we alleviate suffering, can you say the same?

If you dont want to watch this, you have a thumb that is capable of scrolling down past this post. It is horrible to see, but then it points out numerous things. Poison should be banned on all levels, from rats to plants! It lets you witness the actual effects of poison to the body. Whether it be cat, dog, fox, rabbit.....or even human. It points out the horrifying scenes this hospital and other wildlife hospitals have to witness on a daily basis. It points out the amazing work this hospital does. So if you know what poison does to the body, then good! You can tell your neighbour if you witness them putting it down. But if you are here to moan because you saw the video and didnt want to.....that's your choice. It wasnt the foxes choice to eat poison and the vet had no choice but to put the poor creature to sleep.

Horrid. I’m so sorry this poor animal suffered and many More in the hands of some humans that choose not to seeing all creatures as beautiful souls that do not deserve harm from a human hand. Thank you for all you do 🙏

My heart breaks for our wildlife and the way they are treated, a dreadful end for such a beautiful animal. You must be devastated when you have to witness such cruelty, thank you for doing what you do.

People saying they didn’t need to film it, yes I understand it’s not nice to see but I also believe we need to be shown what evil there is around and how it affects our wildlife. I’m a huge lover of foxes and yes it’s extremely upsetting but unfortunately it’s a reality. At peace now baby no more suffering, RIP Foxy xxx

I understand that you are raising awareness, however the people seeing this on their feeds are people who love animals and the ones who follow rescue and rehab not the people who you really want witnessing this 😥 very upsetting to see this on my feed and very sad that the poor fox couldn't be saved .. just helpless 😥

I can’t share this as I know some of my friends would find it distressing. I can’t watch it, the still tells you all you need to know. I agree, it should be euthanized straight away once it couldn’t be saved. But I suppose it’s felt that the more harrowing, then the more impact “makes you sit up and think”. They are our wildlife and need protection from this grim end. If they have no natural predator to keep numbers in check, there’s more humane ways of doing it. They feel pain just like we do. I think laws should be brought in to better protect the animals. If people can cause this much pain to an animal...

This is horrible, I brought a baby rabbit into you back in the summer of 2019 and the poor soul had the exact same reaction as this poor fox. I do not understand why people must use poison, surely there are more humane and kinder ways to deter animals. This video needs to be seen for people to understand the horrible way in which these poor creatures suffer.

As a young girl i saw my best friend Peggy (golden retreiver) come in from the garden, lay down and start convulsing. I didnt know what was happening. I was scared, crying and trying to hold her, all the while begging my Mum to make her better. She died on the kitchen floor in my arms having been 'poisoned'. I was inconsolable, for years. We dont know what exactly poisoned her. That whole scenario has stayed with me all my life. Its a dreadful way to suffer - everyone needs to be aware of what poisons are and the damage and suffering they can cause to pets AND wildlife. Videos like this are hard to watch but witnessing this first hand is even harder...BE KNOWLEDGEABLE about the products you use and discard, sometimes discard inconsiderately.

It’s called educating people to reality , sometimes harsh images are needed to make things stay in your mind, if this video makes one person stop putting poison down or to educate another not to then it’s done it’s job . Horrible things happen in the world it’s about educating and sometimes this means the shock factor .

How long after this was filmed did he/she pass? Did the little one get put to sleep or waited until the poison took over? The video is over 20 seconds+ to us it’s not long but for that little fox that would have felt like it was forever. How painful and terrified he/she would have been 😭 just hope she/he didn’t have to wait too long poor thing RIP 🦊 🌈

The work you do is amazing but the people who are viewing this video are wildlife and animal lovers, it's not reaching the real people that need to see this 😔 had to hide it from my timeline as its really upset me

problem is most people who are killing our wildlife won’t be on here watching and feeling sorry for the fox 😞 the people watching or reading this are the caring ones so it may make an impact but not to the perpetrators who probably don’t give a shit just like any animal abusers / killers 💔

Are you able to help squirrels? We had a squirrel trapped outside our house all day last week. When I phoned the local wildlife hospital they said that nothing could be done as it was an invasive species and under new laws could not release into the wild. The fact that this was one of 4 that come into our garden didn't seem to matter. I hate to see wildlife suffer. I can understand how hard it was for you trying to treat this fox. Need to make sure that only people that know what they are doing deal with poison. Although would animals suffer like this if they caught a poisoned rodent and ate it?

The human race needs to be ashamed. A big thank you to the hospital for doing their best putting this poor fox out of pain. When are humans going to stop! We need to educate.These are beautiful animals.

💔 I am not going to attack south essex wildlife hospital and the person who is controlling the facebook page. I am going to say thank you for your work and all you do for the animals that people dont tend to care for as much!! This video must have been very distressing to film, the intention was to educate and that I have been.

Hurts so much to see such a beautiful animal suffering; hate these people who harm them. Just made a donation to you for all the good work you do please keep it up. Bless you

Thank you for caring and helping those animals that humans try to harm. Poor fox, they are beautiful creatures. Keep on with the compassionate work you do.

Oh, poor, poor baby. Wondering if this is one of the 3 we feed at the end of our garden in Orsett Road, Horndon. Please can you tell me if he had a bent tail? We have been calling him Mr Broken Tail. Actually in tears watching this because we've been buying them eggs and lamb bits... 😔

I can’t bear all these animal sufferings - why are people doing these things?!!! How can people be so cruel? The same needs to be done to them!