Mum's fears for her children after savage fox attacks cat
A MUM is too scared to let her two young children play in their garden after a neighbour's cat was "ripped to shreds" by a fox.
Becky Lester is warning of the dangers of the wild animals which she believes are capable of attacking humans.
Becky, 28, mum to Hollie, three, and Max, two, said: "It was horrific discovering the poor cat. I wouldn't have said this before, but I now fear for the safety of my children."
Since moving into her home in Windmill Close, Strood, two years ago, the family have been plagued with foxes some of which are living under decking in the garden.
Frequent calls to the Fox Project, a charity which protects and rescues wild foxes, have proved fruitless whose representatives have consistently maintained that foxes do not attack people.
Becky said the problem has worsened in recent weeks with one fox giving birth to four cubs.
She said: "I went outside for a cigarette the other evening and one of them came right up close to me.
"I want to warn others that they can do serious harm, but I am being made to feel I'm making a lot of fuss about nothing."
Such was the carnage that Becky did not recognise the cat and her initial reaction was that it was their pet tabby, Tyrone.
She said : "It was awful enough, but I don't know how I could have told the children. They treat him as their baby."
Trevor Williams, spokesman for the Fox Project, said it was "unusual" for foxes to square up to cats.
He said: "Cats are of similar weight, are more aggressive and have better weaponry. But where there is trouble, it is almost exclusively at this point of the year, the breeding season, when foxes will naturally defend infant cubs against predators.
"Our rescue facility brings in cubs each year that have been savaged by cats, so the threat is very real. There is no threat to children by foxes."
Mr Williams added that decking was not advisable as it attracted foxes and other animals including mice and rats.
What do you think? Have you had a problem with foxes? Contact the newsdesk on 01634 236320 or e-mail newsdesk.medway@KRNmedia.co.uk
15 Comments
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by Alison Campling, Spalding
Saturday, March 19 2011, 10:08PM
“What utter nonsense!
The incident wasn't seen and this woman has put 2 and 2 together and made about 7 in order to get her name in print.
Dreadful journalism, a non-story and as for the picture Tony Butler took of the fox "caught in the act"... well, to me it looks like a pic of a fox sitting by a box and as the article is NOT about a fox sitting by a box, claearly this isn't catching anything in the act.
The cat couldn't be identified, nobody knows how it died and as for the ridiculous notion that a fox would eat someone's children. Honestly. My cat constantly teases the local foxes and isn't that keen on children.
Slow news day was it?”
by Wendé Anne Maunder, Kingston-upon-Thames
Saturday, March 19 2011, 5:40PM
“Why did the woman assume the culprit to be a 'savage fox'? Savage, SAVAGE? - ridiculous to use this word to describe a fox. The 'carnage' was so great that she couldn't immediately see who's cat it was. Our cat regularly attacks foxes which run away like the proverbial clappers. And she just assumes that a fox did the savaging because she certainly didn't see one otherwise she would have said so. Why did not the reporter ask that question? And why has such a ridiculous piece of fiction been published on the 'news' page?”
by Wendé Anne Maunder, Kingston-upon-Thames
Saturday, March 19 2011, 5:29PM
“The woman found a 'savaged' cat and the 'carnage' was such that she thought it was her pet cat!! Did she witness the fox savaging the cat? No. Otherwise she would have said so. It was much more likely to have been a dog. Our cat would attack foxes which turned and ran like the proverbial clappers. Ridiculous story. Why did the reporter also assume that the 'culprit' was a fox? Why is such rubbish being published.”
by maidamess, london
Saturday, March 19 2011, 3:15PM
“Yes this is just more anti fox propaganda,getting pretty sick of it.
Have to say though that if you think this woman stupid/mad a local paper of mine reported about a year ago that a local man here who obviosly hates foxes stated that he thought they had cross bred with jackals! He was not joking. Bet you didn't know about the wild jackal population in the London suburbs! lol”
by Roger Watling, Essex
Saturday, March 19 2011, 11:44AM
“You are SO lucky, we have to console ourselves with a nightly visit, to share our garden with a beautiful family of foxes would be a dream. come on get a grip.”
by Roger Watling, Essex
Saturday, March 19 2011, 11:39AM
“You are SO lucky, | wish I had foxes living in my garden, there would be a lot less mice and rats around. We have to put up with the fact that they visit our front garden at night. Enjoy them, they have as much right to be there as you do. I am green with envy”
by Greg, Manchester
Saturday, March 19 2011, 9:44AM
“This is ridiculous.
Even if (IF) the cat was killed by a fox, on what grounds does she assume that the fox will attack her children?
What on earth were those "frequent calls to the Fox Project" about? I'm surprised they didn't try and have her sectioned.
This kind of tat should be recorded in a psychiatrist's notebook, not a newspaper.”
by Greg, Manchester
Saturday, March 19 2011, 9:42AM
“This is ridiculous.
Even if (IF) the cat was killed by a fox, where is the evidence that the same fox will attack her children?
What on earth were those "frequent calls to the Fox Project" about? I'm surprised they didn't try and have her sectioned.”
by Cecil Strenght, Planet Earth
Saturday, March 19 2011, 9:05AM
“Well if she saw the poor kitty getting attacked, surely she could have done something to save it? Oh wait.... "It was horrific discovering the poor cat."... "DISCOVERING"... well that's a leap of logic if she was not actually a witness.
I recommended for this poor woman to stop reading papers (like the Daily Mail) that seem to suggest the foxes are launching a huge assault on the Human population (or maybe just Conservatives) of England. It gives an unhealthy perspective on life and I am sure she and her children will benefit from her not being paranoid.
Lastly my pet cat likes to wander in an area populated with a high number of foxes, the only time my cat was attacked, was by the neighbour's dog. So erm...”
by richard, norfolk
Saturday, March 19 2011, 1:26AM
“I wonder would you ever do a story of a beloved cat ripped to shreds by a hunt..?”