It's the noisy, scavenging pest that is now responsible for a shocking attack on two babies asleep in their beds. But how fair is our view of the urban fox – and is it actually any different from its country cousin?
Patrick Barkham
It was a warm Saturday evening and Nick and Pauline Koupparis left a door to their three-storey house open as they watched Britain's Got Talent on television. Shortly before 10pm, a curious fox padded into their home in Victoria Park, east London, and made its way upstairs, where their nine-month-old twins Lola and Isabella were asleep. The fox attacked the girls on their arms and faces. When Pauline heard the crying, she rushed upstairs. "I went into the room and I saw some blood on Isabella's cot," she said yesterday. "I thought she'd had a nosebleed. I put on the light and I saw a fox and it wasn't even scared of me, it just looked me straight in the eye".
As the children were treated in hospital, where they were in a serious but stable condition, the shocking story spread around the globe, triggering a new panic about urban foxes. Police told local residents they should keep their doors closed in hot weather for their own safety. Neighbours spoke of how foxes creep not merely into their gardens but into their kitchens and living rooms. A fox trap was set; one fox has already been killed.
"Something should be done about them. I would love to get them out of here. They're really a nuisance and a danger," said one neighbour, Michael Parra. "I think the foxes are getting bolder. They almost go up to you. I've got fearful myself. They've gone towards my dog too".
