The fantastic fox discovered living the high life in the UK’s tallest building last week earned a much-needed stay at Wallington’s Riverside Animal Centre after its vertigo-inducing ordeal.

The four-legged explorer made its way up to the roof of London Bridge's 900-foot Shard building after sniffing out scraps of food left by construction workers.

Experts believe the intrepid animal became trapped after climbing up the central stairwell of the Shard - which will be Europe's biggest building once completed.

It remained at large for nearly two weeks on the eye-wateringly high 72nd floor before being finally captured by pest control officers at Southwark Council.

Named “Romeo” by council staff because his record-breaking escapade ended shortly after Valentine's Day, the fox was in fine fettle despite his lofty adventure.

Les Leonard, pest control manager at Southwark Council, described the final few metres he had to climb up the outside of the building to reach Romeo.

He said: “Romeo wasn’t exactly living the high-life, having lived off scraps for two weeks, so I’m sure he was glad to have finally been rescued.

“As far as the job went, it was scary stuff heading all the way up to the top of the building, especially going up the last 34 floors on the outside of the building. It was definitely not your typical call out.”

Romeo has since been released back onto the streets of Bermondsey, in Southwark, close to its den and family, after being assessed by experts at the Riverside Animal Centre.

Ted Burden, founder of the centre, said: “We were delighted to find that Romeo was in good health other than for the fact that he clearly hadn't found quite enough to live on.

“We gave him a thorough medical, a few good meals and explained to him that if foxes were meant to be 72 storeys off the ground, they would have evolved wings.

“We think he got the message and, as we released him back onto the streets of Bermondsey shortly after midnight on Sunday, he glanced at the Shard and then trotted off in the other direction."