A fox cub discovered abandoned in a cardboard box in Leeds has found some new friends in the form of two orphaned badger babies at a wildlife sanctuary.
Phoebe the fox was handed in to the Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary from a local vet clinic, but the staff did not have any other foxes to pair her up with for company. They did, however, have two young badgers found on the road near the body of what was believed to be their dead mother in Meltham, West Yorkshire.

Image Credit: Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary
“Foxes and badgers would never mix in the wild, in fact they tend to keep out of each other’s way,” said Alexandra Farmer, chief executive of the sanctuary. But because they were all around the same size and had lost their mums, the team decided to give it a go and put them together for socialisation.
“We have been delighted to see they have bonded extremely well, it’s been lovely to see them feeding, sleeping and even playing together,” said Farmer.
Betty and Bella, the badger cubs, are getting on well with their new fox friend, and have recently been joined by Bonnie, a third badger cub found bruised and battered at the bottom of a cliff next to her dead sibling.
“It was important that they don’t have too much handling and live with other wild creatures of roughly the same size, they can’t become reliant on human contact,” said Farmer.
“When some more fox cubs arrive we will introduce Phoebe to them but for now she’s getting along with the badgers just fine.”
The more I learn such incredible acts by so-called “animals”, the more I hate humanity which THINKS it has a lock on love and integrity.
Nice !
Lovely to see them all bonding.
Swhat a lovely story, I have bottal feed fox clubs myself, nature needs all the help going in this day and age. For younger people, please rember these are wild animals and look sweet but can be dangerous and bit. They should be in wild were they belong, except were help is needed by trained people
Thank you for all you do to help animals. I’ve rescued and adopted several cats over the years that have been like family to me and I feel like have saved me also with the love they’ve given me. I get so heartbroken when I see so much cruelty to animals and hope that continued work like you and many others do will help change the world and make others more compassionate and put it in to this cruelty and humanize us all. For showing compassion to animals touches something deep in us that helps us all to be aware important it is to be kind.
Thank you to everyone for helping save all these babies. I’m still smiling………………….thanks for sharing and best wishes for a wonderful life to all!
That’s really a great thing you all did and do for all the animals. At least she is safe and has a couple little friends to I’m so happy there is people out there like you guys to take care and look out for all animals I love animals and it just makes my heart hurt so bad to hear about the abuse that goes on in this world. So once again Thank You so much for being there
I wish you well sweet babies. Thank you to the people at the sanctuary for all your efforts.
Another example of the unconditional love of/for/from animals. Humans could learn a real lesson if they’d pay attention! Maybe in the wild the badgers and foxes wouldn’t get along but being orphaned they all needed one another so have bonded. Love Sweet Love
Thank God they all found wach and more importantly get along well with each other.
So thankful for genuine wildlife sanctuaries. Very happy these innocent babies are safe. And have friends.
How lucky they all are to have found each other!! ❤️❤️