KAP the fox cub has a kind cabbie to thank for her life.

For the female fox cub was on the point of death when a taxi-driver found her lying by a road-side after apparently being hit by a car.

He took her to Consett's German vet Silke Shanks believing the fox would have to be put down but that at least it would die without pain.

"She was in a terrible state," said Mrs Shanks, who came to Consett after previously living in New Zealand.

"She had seizures, was drooling and was really at death's door. It appears that she was chased by a dog or something on to a road and was scraped by a car.

"In the end we took her home and nursed her and she is absolutely fine. We even walk her in a harness.

"We plan either to take her back to the exact spot where she was found because they do run back to their mothers, or take her to a foxes' rescue centre which is based in Northampton.

"We've called her Kap after the German name for the fox cub in the Fox and Hounds Disney film."

Brian McKenna, the Consett taxi-driver, found the cub just outside Rowlands Gill last Saturday.

He said: "There were people driving around it and it was clearly alive and I thought, 'no way.'

"I stopped the car, put the hazard lights on, and moved it to the verge, but I couldn't just leave it.

"I thought she would have to be put down but the vet said, 'let's see' and I couldn't believe the recovery when I went back a few days later.

"Foxes get such a bad name, but I don't believe it. It was a lovely, wild creature."