THE determined owner of three black foxes stopped at nothing to get his rare pets back after they were let out of their enclosure in Mile End, Colchester.

Richard Ashton managed to track down and capture two of his foxes in 24 hours, after they had been released on Thursday night.

What he did not know is one of the foxes had given birth three weeks ago.

The shock discovery meant he was keen to reunite the cubs and their mother, who was caught in the garden of Fairview Hospital in Boxted Road on Friday evening.

The second male fox was caught on Saturday in Mill Road Surgery's car park, but not before it bit Richard's friend.

Another male fox is still on the loose.

He said: "My friend was bitten really badly, he had to be taken to hospital as he suffered mostly puncture wounds.

"The first priority was to catch the female because I didn't want to be hand-raising cubs. We managed to catch her very quickly due to a good friend who saw the fox while she was at work.

"Luckily she's used to animals so she knew how to deal with it."

Escape routes were blocked off so both foxes were trapped in before Richard and friends pounced on them.

But even after doing that, the third fox, which he almost trapped on Saturday night, managed to slip away.

Richard has also had to contend with hunting groups attempting to reach the foxes first.

He said: "I need to catch him as quickly as possible. He just got away from us but is limping quite badly and I don't know what's happened to him.

"Within a certain area I've got a shawl with the scent of the female he was with and we're making it a safe zone so people will be looking out for him over the next couple of days."

To ensure they are safe, all the animals will be moved to another location, Richard explained.

He will also need to up security measures which will cost thousands of pounds.

He added: “I would’ve loved if the individuals had opened the wrong enclosure as they would’ve been sprayed by my skunk.

“But I was determined to get the foxes back.”