Bottle feeding 22 fox cubs night after night is not a task many people would relish - but for Veronica Mepham it's all in a day's work.
Dedication - Veronica Mepham spends seven days a week looking after animals Picture: NICK ANSELL UQCJE4
Veronica, 64, co-owner of Rescuers Wildlife Sanctuary in Benfleet, looks after the sanctuary's residents despite being almost completely blind and a busy mother and grandmother.
She works seven days a week and considers a day spent fundraising as a day off. She does everything from night-time fox cub feeding to receptionist duties for the centre, which she runs with husband Rye.
Veronica, who is a mother of three and grandmother of six, said they set up the sanctuary 20 years ago after they got involved with the Essex Badger Protection Group.
She said: "Every year we seem to be getting busier and busier. I've been up nearly every night for what seems like forever feeding the 22 fox cubs we're raising."
Veronica, who was a funeral director for 11 years prior to opening the sanctuary, lost the majority of her sight - she can only see with half of one eye - after a stroke last year.
Published Wednesday June 9, 2004
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