Fox Freed From Peanut Butter Jar On Face In Middletown Twp.

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — Public works crews can always be relied upon to help with snow removal and take on all kinds of tasks throughout any municipality.

But on Tuesday, the Middletown Township Public Works Department had a "different kind of call.

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The DPW team answered the call to help free a fox whose head was stuck in a peanut butter jar.

Public works employees Joe Judge and Dave Kabana were at Delaware Canal Park near the Wawa on Route 1 cutting up a damaged tree when they spotted the fox in distress.

"I saw the fox running down the canal with the jar on its head," said Judge, who has worked in the department for 11 years. "I called it and it just came up to me. I was shocked that the fox did."

After several attempts to get the jar off the fox's head, Kabana — a 31-year member of the PWD — assisted and twisted the jar while Judge held the animal with two hands.

The jar came loose as the fox's mother watched intently from several feet away.

"I never came across anything like this," said Judge, who recalled helping to free some ducks trapped in a drainage outlet a decade ago.

"It was struggling," Judge said of the fox. "It took two of us to get the jar off. It feels good. I'm an animal lover."

"Thankfully, the animal is safe," officials said in a Facebook post. "Please remember to dispose of trash properly to help protect local wildlife."

(Middletown Township)

Public Works employee Joe Judge helps free a jar from a fox's head on Tuesday morning.