Mr Barnes, 52, took this picture before using a rake to push the lilo towards the edge, but the frightened fox snapped at it and toppled back into the water.The covered paddling pool must have seemed an irresistible playground for an adventurous fox cub.
But it found itself in deep trouble after the cover gave way, plunging it into the cold water.
Homeowner John Barnes was awoken at 5am by splashing and found the shivering animal had managed to clamber aboard an airbed in the middle of the pool.
With a last despairing effort, however, it regained the airbed and managed to scramble over the edge of the plastic pool before disappearing into the undergrowth in Selsdon, near Croydon.
Foxes are reluctant swimmers and the temperature of the water would have rapidly affected the animal. Mr Barnes’s wife Ann said: ‘We’ve had the pool for two months and every time we’ve been in it the water has been just freezing.’
She added that by the time the fox was back on dry land, it was so tired it could barely walk. ‘It’s so lucky John was there.’
The kind-hearted couple have now installed steps into their pool in case any other animals decide to go for a late night swim.
Trevor Williams, director of the Fox Project charity, said: ‘We have heard of foxes getting into water in gardens and before this case, all of them have ended with the fox losing its life.’
Appearances of the urban fox appear to be on the rise.
In June nine-month-old twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis, were mauled by an urban fox when they were sleeping in their cots at their home in Hackney, East London.
source :dailymail
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