Unfortunate drama in the night

A sorry drama unfolded at 3am last night.  Dave jumped out of bed to the sound of splashing outside the boat.  Initially thinking it was Nemo cat who had fallen in, but thankfully he was fast asleep (as usual) on the bed.  Dave went to investigate, and the splashing was coming from the front of the boat, between the boat and the bank/piling.  Thinking it was a dog stuck there, he thrust his hand into the water to pull it out, only to be bitten by a fox.  A re-think was called for.  So we got the brush and tried to prise it out onto the bank, all the time the fox was thrashing around and crying pityfully trying to get out.  Unfortunately the brush head broke off, so we got a towel and tried to get the fox to come to the towel, but it was too late at this point, and the fox moved away from the boat towards the other side of the canal and disappeared under the ice.  We couldn't think of what else we could do, apart from jumping in, which is not something to do when one is standing in the snow and ice in just your pants.  So we just came inside, and hoped the fox made it to the bank on the other side.  Sadly it did not, and drowned against the bank, it obviously just didnt have the strength left to get himself out.  Dave is gutted.   It's always so special and exciting when you see a fox, and to watch helplessly as one of them suffers is just awful.  In the cold light of day this morning, why didn't we just get a thick pair of gloves on and grab hold of him?  Too late for "what iffs" now.  As for the fox bite, we washed it in TCP and put some savlon on it.  I looked it up on the internet, and apparently, "a fox bite is painful but offers less potential for infection than a domestic cat bite or scratch".  Small comfort though.