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The report that 9 month old girl twins in East London had been mauled in their cots in an upstairs room by 'a fox' seems a little strange (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/10251349.stm). I suppose that it is just about feasible but this seems very odd behaviour even for an urbanised fox (suggestions that the fox was trying to 'escape the heat' seem highly speculative). No one saw the actual beast (dogs and cats could be other candidates) and Red foxes are usually very reluctant to go deep into a location (in through a door, up the stairs and into another room) containing unfamiliar humans (the parents were said to be watching TV, another source of disturbance). Perhaps there is more to this story than meets the eye?
2 comments:
Locally there were a couple of foxes fronting people up in their gardens, one fox actually crept up stairs whilst the occupier was sitting at his computer. The most likely reason for this behaviour is someone probably thought they'd have a go at rearing some "orphaned" fox cubs, humanised them then tossed them out and expected them to behave normally. The psychological development of hand reared wildlife is often overlooked and is little understood by some wildlife rehabilitators and even less understood by the general public.
Always a possibility. I have met such folk. They also 'domesticate' Toxoplasma impaired beasties that may well behave strangely.
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