Fox Attack On Twin Girls

[saggyhairyarse]

I just read this on the 'Latest News' on BBC News but when I clicked on the headline there was no info.

I am shocked and hoping they are not seriously hurt.

And foxes do get everywhere - there was one in Selfridges (3rd floor as well) few years ago.

morloth, there is a difference between co-existing with the foxes in your garden and feeding the foxes in your garden.

Foxes are wild animals and should be treated as such. The instant you start feeding them you begin to break down the ability of the fox to find food for itself and make it dependent on humans for food. The more you do this, the more generations of foxes are bred that do not have the ability to hunt for themselves, simply because they do not need to. It is at this point that the foxes begin to lose their fear of humans, and this can have two consequences, firstly, they become braver and come closer to humans than might be considered to be safe in terms of the carriage of diseases etc. Also there is a risk to humans who lose sight of the fact these are wild animals and who try to get close to them with the consequence that they are often bitten. But the second potential consequence of you feeding the foxes is that the foxes don't know which humans are the fox-friendly ones, and which aren't, and so consequently they may approach humans that mean them harm - and because they don't have the fear, before they realize this it is too late.
The answer to what happens to them if you don't feed them is simple - survival of the fittest. It may not sound nice but that is nature, and as wild animals, by feeding them you are interfeering with that.

Not all people lothe foxes and it is perfectly ok to want to live in harmony with them. But it's not ok to feed them in order to break down the boundaries between wild animals and humans.

I got attacked by an urban fox as an adult when out running on Clapham Common so they do attack people.

Fortunately I managed to kick it off but it was really scary.

I called the council and they said it's not uncommon and thats why some London councils (Hammermith and Fulham is one I know) have marksmen who go round at night and take them out.

Well I am sorry you think that belgo. I am not being unsympathetic or malicious in any way.

I can only go by experience and the fact that fox attacks are almost unheard of.

The tone of some of the news reports are fairly too.

Whatever happened to the girls, they have been hurt and their parents must be very worried.

I make no judgement of them even if their story isnt quite true.

I mean fox attack in a house,not outside when a fox feels threatened.

Mother states she saw the fox in the bedroom & Police trap and kill a fox in the family garden:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/10251349.stm

The mother was on Radio 4 news (well her recorded description).

Sounds real to me, how awful for the family.

foxes are more and more likely to enter houses now people have those folding doors that open up their house completely from side to side. Mind you, they can get through any open door. I loathe them and I always keep an eye on my dd when she plays in the garden as there is a lair between our back garden and our two neighbours' (the lair is on council ground). Council is totally useless, and just advises to go to Homebase and buy something called 'keep off stay off' for the garden, which has a lemon smell foxes don't like. It's a real pity as my brother and I loved sleeping in a tent in the garden when we were kids. I would never let my dd do that now.

Our house backs onto a field and we have a space at the back of the garden where you can cut through to get onto the field.
DP uses it to walk the dog and a fox came up to him snarling a few weeks ago.

I also had one on the doorstep early morning last summer when I had got up with the new baby. I had gone round the back to hang some washing out and the baby was in her chair in the living room as I walked round the corner a fox was stood half in half out the front door until I threw the washing basket at it.

I do wish people wouldn't feed them.

just seen this thread ,cant belive some on the replys on here ,poor babies hope there ok x

Foxes, even country foxes, will go to enormous and surprising lengths to get food. They can climb trees and fences, dismantle chicken houses, tunnel under things. Furthermore in London where filthy urban people drop food everywhere they are extremely used to human contact. It would not surprise me in the slightest if they can taken a shine to a defenceless prey they thought they stood half a chance of being able to drag away to consume in peace. My 9 mo weighs 6.5 kg, fairly easily draggable by a fox- they will take lambs of a similar weight. Assuming these babies were wearing underwear and grobags, all that would be exposed would be their arms and faces. ^sadç

Not at all implausible imo.

Foxes, even country foxes, will go to enormous and surprising lengths to get food. They can climb trees and fences, dismantle chicken houses, tunnel under things. Furthermore in London where filthy urban people drop food everywhere they are extremely used to human contact. It would not surprise me in the slightest if they can taken a shine to a defenceless prey they thought they stood half a chance of being able to drag away to consume in peace. My 9 mo weighs 6.5 kg, fairly easily draggable by a fox- they will take lambs of a similar weight. Assuming these babies were wearing underwear and grobags, all that would be exposed would be their arms and faces.

Not at all implausible imo.

this is all very dodgy and potentially extremely troublesome

I'm not being funny or anything but I can't believe that some of these posts have been left up.

backtotalkaboutthis - you are free to report any posts you like to mumsnet HQ by clicking on 'report' at the top right hand corner of the post.

but chegirl did say she was making no judgement, she just expressed an opinion. I didn't see any malice in her post at all??

When I first heard the news there was no mention of the fox being seen at all - that's what I mean when we can only go off what we hear.

Let's just hope the babies are ok

urban foxes are brazen! I am very wary of them. I see at least one fox in my garden or in the street every day - they come really close to the house and I'm sure they would come in if they could get it. I keep a close eye on my DD (2.5) when she is in the back garden as I have even seen foxes in the garden during the day.

It is an unusual story but it is certainly possible.

a foxs teeth would make quite disctinct marks (vry similar to small dog, fair enough) ..this does seem very odd, because this kind of thing is extremely rare.

my first thought was a fox that did this might be in a very bad way, as generally this kind of odd behaviour is performed by animals suffering illness (such as the rats in our house chewing some odd non-food items after the poison went down).

i still favour a live and let live approach to foxes, i mean, its hardly a common occurrence, and foxes are everywhere.

feeding foxes - i wouldn't, but then i don't want to encourage them into our garden, as it would upset dog, and their mess carries worms. on the other hand, it probably makes buger al diffeence whtheryou choose to feed the or not - this time of year (BBQ season!) most people will be feeding them one way or another.

incidentally, lyme disease is caught by being bitten by a tick (generally found on deer or sheep) - not from dogs (though dogs can catch it, it killed one of ours ).

yes chegirl did say that

belgo, believe me, I have