Rescuers from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue & Ambulance Service (WRAS) received a call about a fox cub stuck down a drain pipe — and when they arrived on the scene, they could hear the cub’s cries, but could not see the cub because the animal was trapped so far down.

The team sent a camera down the pipe, and as they were devising their rescue plan, they noticed they were not alone — the cub’s mother was watching.

“We were amazed that the vixen turned up whilst we were trying to find the cub,” Chris Riddington, WRAS’ rescue manager, said in a news release. “It was almost as if she knew we were trying to rescue her cub.”

The team eventually managed to pull the cub out and administer a much-needed bath. They left the cub in an open carrier, and watched as the mama fox came to retrieve her baby. Mother and cub then ran off together, safe and sound.