A DEAD fox has been painted over by a road marking machine.

The carcass of the animal was lying on the A259 in Roedean.

It is believed a road painter ran over the carcass last night and covered it in the white line.

A horrified passerby spotted the fox and contacted the council to report the decorated roadkill.

The picture of the incident was posted onto Twitter.

One commenter said: “Poor foxes, badgers and birds.

“The A27 and A23/M23 are an absolute depressing route of death and carnage to drive on daily

“It literally brings me to tears the amount of life snuffed out on our roads.”

Another commenter said: “Did they not see it when painting the lines? #lazy”

A council spokeswoman said: “We would like to apologise on behalf of our road lining contractor for lining over the deceased fox.  

“When road lining is installed, it is difficult for the driver of the vehicle to see smaller items on the highway as they need to be looking straight ahead to ensure the lines are painted in a straight line.

"This mistake made by the operatives was due to it being dark in the evening and their being a high traffic volume. 

“This was an unfortunate but thankfully rare incident.”