This crafty character had animal rescue experts utterly foxed when he decided to take a nap in the engine bay of a car.
The cub was spotted climbing up through the wheel arch of a new Audi SQ5 parked in a street in Woodside in Aberdeen.
Alerted by the vehicle’s owners, Scottish SPCA welfare officers spotted the stowaway snuggled up with the gearbox.
Attempts to coax him out with cat food failed to get out of first gear as the frightened animal refused to budge from its new-found lair.
And it took the skills of an AA patrolman to jack the car up and find a way to carry out the rescue mission without harm to the cub or the engine.
The fox was too young to be released into the wild and is now being hand-reared by SSPCA staff at the National Wildlife Centre in Clackmannanshire.
He has been nicknamed Basset because rescued fox cubs are this year being named after dog breeds – after the first was mistaken for a husky puppy.
Staff expect him to be ready for release by the end of the summer.
Jason Robertson, who has been a Volkswagen Group technical specialist for the AA since 2006, said he was relieved to find the animal in one piece when he arrived.
The Maud man added: “When I saw the job come up with ‘Fox in engine bay’ I feared the worst.
“I thought maybe it had been hit and I would be arriving at a gruesome scene, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn’t the case.
“We tried to coax it out with cat food. When that didn’t work, I jacked the car up and saw one of the cub’s legs dangling down.
“Luckily, it was pulled out unscathed.
“I’ve rescued plenty of kids from locked cars, but this was definitely a first for me.”
SSPCA nationalwildlife rescue centre manager, Colin Seddon, said: “We’re grateful to the member of public who alerted us, and for the assistance of the Audi specialist.
“Basset appeared unharmed and is doing well now.
“We’ll keep him in our care until the summer when he will be released back into the wild with a number of other fox cubs.
“Anyone who discovers an injured or distressed wild animal should call our Animal Helpline on 03000 999 999.”