A mother has described the terrifying moment a fox entered her home and bit her three-month-old daughter's head while they were sleeping. Carly Clarkson, 37, had nodded off while feeding baby Josephine and was startled awake by the animal sniffing her face, before spotting blood around her daughter.
Carly screamed and saw four bloody puncture wounds on Josephine's head. She grabbed the baby and chased the fox to the top of the stairs before checking on her one-year-old daughter. The back door to their home in Watford, Hertfordshire, had been left open.
Mother's horror at waking to blood
"Imagine waking up, and your child's blood is next to you. It was absolutely horrifying," Carly said. She described the wounds as looking "like a dog had bitten a football".
She rushed Josephine to Watford General Hospital at around 9.45pm on Thursday (August 20), where doctors confirmed there were no fractures to the skull or concerns about the baby's brain. Carly believes the position they had fallen asleep in may have prevented wounds to the face or an artery in the leg. She suggested the fox may have been trying to drag her daughter away.
Family's fear and fox encounters
Carly said she now feels "absolutely violated" and does not feel safe in her home with two young children. She added: "Clearly there is an issue of either the same fox or multiple foxes being fed or just really acclimatising and becoming comfortable with people."
As the family left for hospital, they encountered a fox approaching them directly at the front door, apparently trying to enter. CCTV footage from the garden shows the animal prowling moments before it gained entry. The incident was reported to Watford Borough Council, but the only solution offered was £300 pellets that might deter foxes. Carly has contacted The Fox Project for help, saying the foxes in the area are becoming "out of control".
Expert says incident extremely rare
Trevor Williams, founder of The Fox Project, said such incidents are exceptionally rare and there has not been one in over a decade. "It's pretty clear to me that this incident involves a young cub," he said. "Experienced adult foxes would never behave in this way and will always avoid putting themselves in such a vulnerable position."
Williams noted the timing coincides with annual dispersal, when fox families break up and cubs around four and a half months old explore unfamiliar territory. He advised keeping doors shut and using non-toxic mammal repellents from garden centres or hardware stores as the best precautions. Carly said she was "very lucky" to come away with just needing tetanus shots and antibiotics, adding: "I would hate to find out that in a week or in a few weeks' time someone else isn't so lucky."
