'Rescuing foxes is more rewarding than being a DJ'

Fern, an American silver fox, curls up in the arms of Les Hemstock at his home in Mansfield, relaxed and a far cry away from her previous life.

Saved from a fur farm run for fashion, the 13-year-old canine now lives a much more sedate existence, including nights on the sofa watching films.

Hemstock - a producer and DJ better known as one of the men behind chart-topping Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers - has for the last seven years spent his time helping stricken animals.

He said the love the animals bring has made the challenges involved with looking after them worthwhile.

"It's been very hard work to be honest with you, but I love it," he said.

"The sort of rewards you get from music production and DJing are material and fun, but this is so much more.

"The trust that these animals give you, and the love, is second-to-none.

"It's a lot of work - they don't make great pets at all - but it's certainly worth it," Hemstock said.

While some of the animals are released back into the wild once they are well enough, Hemstock lets some of the animals who would not be able to survive on their own stay with him in Nottinghamshire.

As well as Fern, at the moment Addie, Ben and Cleo are all staying with him in his adopted fox family.

"I had Ben from about 10 days old, and we bonded immediately," he said.

"The idea was that I would get him through his cubhood and get him back into the wild, but we bonded so much it would be cruel to release him - he wouldn't survive, they need their mother's rearing to prepare them to survive in the wild, and he wouldn't have done that.

"We also found a single mate that needed a male, so we paired them up - it was love at first sight."

Hemstock is now a trustee of charity Fox Angels, who helped him learn to look after the animals, and last year he released a charity single - a cover of 1974 Sweet single Fox on the Run - to raise awareness of their work.

He said local vets and his neighbours have also been supportive of his efforts to help the foxes, who he said "have taught me a lot" about life.

"It's not easy, you've got to be prepared to make the commitment," he said.

"Foxes are kind of like people - we're all different, there's things that we like and dislike about one another, and some people can live together and some can't, and that's the same with these.

"They're very temperamental, but loving."

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