. A fox can not even take on a healthy adult cat.

and everyone knows that two 9 month old babies are harder than one adult cat…

And another thought… Distressed cats sound very much like a baby crying – perhaps the fox was confused and disorientated.

KILL ALL FOXES…..ERASE THEM ALL !!!!!

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To the rescue…

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Seriously though… unlucky for them..thoughts to the family.

very beautiful and noble wild animal.

Vermin.

And there are many rabbits, lambs and chickens who might have a view on the subject… 👿

PS: Describing the fox as "noble" is a projection onto the animal of a quality it does not have. The fox is evolved to succeed in it's environment by the development of certain capabilities and characteristics in just the same way as any other animal.

Is a spider "noble"? Why not? It's not doing anything different to the fox…

I wish arguers for the "lovely, noble" fox would stop confusing the books of Beatrix Potter with the reality of the natural world.

Can anyone advise me of what to do when confronted with a wild fox attacking either of my kids please.

I am quite comfortable with the idea of fending off a cat or a small-medium sized dog. But how the hell do you fend off a fox? From the times i have seen them on those vets programmes, they are hideous creatures with sharp, teeth, amazing speed and his and snarl at everything. They also go absolutely mental when they are scared. Not only would catching one be near impossible, i reckon trying to club one over the head would be a nightmare. Even the huntsmen are scared of them enough to sit up on 6ft high horses.

As with the time i cornered a badger and an adder, i reckon a fox would be joining them on the WTF list.

But how the hell do you fend off a fox?

Dog / Gun / Electronic ultrasonic pest deterrent.

Top tip – keep a dog, a gun and some electronic gubbins in your child's bedroom – best to be safe 😉

I would say 2 guns, just in case. 😉

And some Bombers… 😉

Can anyone advise me of what to do when confronted with a wild fox attacking either of my kids please.

Run at it, it'll leg it. Not that it would be attacking your kids anyway. They're hardly scary creatures, they're like small dogs that are terrified and will do anything to get away from you. Like all other creatures in this world, they're just trying to eek out a living, they're no more or less deserving than you or I, or butterflies.

cept for the city gangsta foxes.

they are into breaking and entering, demanding money with menaces and dont forget the kidnap and torture of your children.

this wasnt a problem under the labour government.

Tory foxes?

Take care out there.

Wonder what they taste like ?

So no one is suggesting a wwf body slam on the snarling bag of anger then.

Run at it, it'll leg it. Not that it would be attacking your kids anyway. They're hardly scary creatures, they're like small dogs that are terrified and will do anything to get away from you. Like all other creatures in this world, they're just trying to eek

See now this seems to contradict everything i have seen of them and how a wild animal acts. Ok if they have an easy out they will make a run for it. But if its cornered or attacking a child, it doesnt really have an easy out and is gonna come out attacking. In that situation my money is on the Fox and my pants needing a wash.

I cornered a badger once and although he would probably have prefered to run off, he didnt. He stood his ground and prepared for battle. It was me who turned around and scarpered.

I keep my garden fork next to my chicken pen just in case….

Just in case of what? The chickens go all 'Dawn of the Dead' on ya ass?

I saw one driving back from a party in Oldham last friday night.

I wasn't aware that foxes could legally hold a licence..

Foxy TWOCsy?

The best way to fend off a fox is to get one of these:

They sh1t foxes.

Just in case of what? The chickens go all 'Dawn of the Dead' on ya ass?

I am considered a hero by my chickens – a dog got into the garden causing them to go mad, I ran over and wrestled it to the ground then dragged it out to the road.

My grandad's big old house on the shore in Edinburgh has a large contingent of urban foxes. There seem to be two or three seperate families – the garden is big enough for them to all play nicely most of the time.

They have no problem with sunbathing in the middle of the lawn for half the day, just lolling about and play fighting. They also wander through many of the neighbouring gardens and disappear off down the old railway line at the back of the house. Not very timid really.

They're not too keen on my dog though, as he tends to want to kill them – he's had at least two fights with the foxes and had a big, nasty cut over his eye after the last one. He's not a big dog – lurcher / terrier cross and he doesn't even have any b@lls left, poor chap, but he does like a pagger with Mr Fox.

not a chance a fox walked into the house, through the house up the stairs and attacked said babies on their arm. Some cover up if you ask me… mates dog or something around! not a chance.

As for the babies, they are said to be in a critical condition, with injuries to their arms? wtf? how can you be in a critical condition with arm injuries?

Hackney foxes act like they own the place, give them guns and they probably would. I'd walk past them regularly coming back from nights out and they would not be frightened at all. One summers day when the door was open we found a fox curled up in our first floor living room behind the couch and it took banging a pan with a metal spoon to scare it out.

But the news story still sounds dodgy.

I agree the story sounds a bit odd. As ernie pointed out, foxes are lightweight creatures. Think medium sized cat. They sometimes look bigger because they have lots of fur but unless the kids were smeared with peanut butter, I can't imagine any reason why the fox would want to go and find children to bite.

not read the whole thread but there's a few misconceptions. Whilst an adult cat could easily face down a fox in the open, if cornered my money would certainly be on the fox and as for dogs as any lurcherman would tell you (pe-ban of course) you need a good strong lurcher to take fox single handed and they could often take a fair bit of damage before the fox was killed (before you say, no its really not pleasant or my thing) but there is a reason you see a lot of pitbullxgreyhound lurchers around.

So it's a not impossible, though highly unlikely event – which is probably why it's in the news. I don't understand why we have to second-guess the family's version of events.. But then again, I am very much a 'benefit of the doubt' person

+1 Urban foxes are opportunistic and all animals are unpredictable, so I don't have any problem believing this could happen, unusual and unfortunate as it is.

No one has said foxes can't be dangerous I think, it's the whole concept of them going looking for children to maul that's getting people a bit confused. On a couple of the associated stories on BBC they have some fox/pest experts all scratching their heads about it too. Both chaps state this simply isn't the sort of things foxes do and one of them even pointed out that in his 40 years in the game, he's only ever see two fox attacks on humans and one of them turned out to be a cat, and the other turned out to be a dog.

And that's what I'm thinking at the moment, it's most likely a case of mistaken identity. Townies are always mistaking badgers for elephants and sparrows for eagles.
It's not their fault though, I for one couldn't identify a pimp or a drug dealer without some help.

e in a critical condition, with injuries to their arms? wtf? how can you be in a critical condition with arm injuries?

Err, blood loss?

I have to say I dont believe it myself unless the people had been feeding the things for a long time. **** would rue the day if it came in my garden.

unless the people had been feeding the things for a long time

Awww, pwetty ickly foxywoxy fluffykins…..

Sadly, I suspect there's a lot of this going on.

It doesn't read right to me either.
My Mum has been feeding the urban foxes in her garden for the last 10 years or so. They're pretty common and can often be seen wandering around in the street from dusk onwards. Even the ones in our garden though won't come near the house or my Mum. They'll sit there and watch her put the food out but if she tries to approach them they're off as soon as she gets within 10 yards of them – not a chance that they'd enter the house, even with a huge pile of food at the doorway.

I can't imagine why Mr Fox hasn't paid a visit to our garden….

Artist does anything ever come into your garden .

that dog appears to missing it's big waggy appendage…..did it caught in a cyclists wheel?

Lol trout – not a lot.

Tazzy – he's a rescue dog (got him at 4 months old) – I'd never dream of docking a dogs tail.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8726282.stm

Urban wildlife expert John Bryant said such an attack was extremely rare.
"I have only ever heard of two cases in my 40 years of dealing with foxes, one of which turned out to be a German Shepherd and the other a cat," he said.

hmmm..Interesting.

awwww you've spoiled my fun I was just going to jump all over you 😆