A heroic Aberdeen man saved a struggling fox from drowning in the city’s harbour by “grabbing it by the scruff of its neck” and hauling it ahsore.
Ricky Greenhowe, owner of Greenhowe Marine Services, was on his Sea-Cab vessel on Thursday evening when he noticed something moving in the water.
Peering into the murky port, he was surprised to discovered it was a fox which had somehow got itself in a perilous predicament.
His rescue efforts were captured on video and posted on their Facebook page, Aberdeen Harbour Tours, garnering Ricky legendary status among many animal-lovers.
‘It would never have got out of the harbour itself’
Ricky was preparing to transfer crew members from a nearby vessel into Aberdeen when the drama unfolded at around 10.30pm.
Speaking to The Press and Journal, he told us the frightened fox wouldn’t have made it out alive without his intervention.
He said: “I went down and thought, ‘what’s that swimming about in the water?’
“I could see it was coming closer to the pontoon, but I didn’t think there was anything I could have done… Until it started swimming towards the boats.
“All the sea cadet boats are a lot smaller than mine, so I jumped into one of them quickly as it started to swim towards me.
“I grabbed it by the scruff of its neck like its mother would, and put it up onto the pontoon. It gave itself a good shake and away it went.”
Ricky relieved fox emerged with little more than a chill
He added: “I just wanted to give the thing a chance.
“It would never have got out of the harbour itself. It just got disorientated down at the pontoon. It must have tried to get ashore another way but obviously couldn’t.”
Watch the fox rescue here:
The family-run business has been operating from Aberdeen Harbour for more than 25 years.
The firm offers a crew transfer service onboard their sea-cab vessel as well as offering both dolphin and harbour cruise services.
It’s not the first time Ricky has brought an unusual animal ashore. In 2021, he caught an extremely rare blue lobster:
North-east fisherman catches rare blue lobster off the coast of Aberdeen
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