A mother has described the horror of waking to find a fox had crept into her home and bitten her three-month-old daughter's head while they slept. Carly Clarkson had dozed off while feeding baby Josephine and was woken by the animal sniffing her face, before she noticed blood around her child.
Four puncture wounds on baby's head
Carly, 37, a mother of two, screamed and saw four bloody puncture wounds on Josephine's head. She grabbed her daughter and chased the fox to the top of the stairs, then checked on her one-year-old daughter in another room. The back door of their home in Watford, Hertfordshire, had been left open.
“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”. At Watford General Hospital, around 9.45pm on Thursday, August 20, doctors confirmed there were no skull fractures or concerns about the baby's brain.
Mother's fear and concerns
Carly believes the position they had fallen asleep in may have prevented the wounds from being on the face or a leg artery. She thinks the fox might have been trying to pull her daughter away. Now she is scared to use her garden or leave doors open with her children around.
“I feel absolutely violated. I don’t feel safe in my home with two young children. Clearly there is an issue of either the same fox or multiple foxes being fed or just really acclimatising and becoming comfortable with people,” she added. As they left for hospital, Carly and her husband saw a fox at the front door, possibly the same animal, seemingly trying to get in. CCTV showed the animal in the garden moments before entering.
No practical help offered
The family reported the incident to Watford Borough Council and looked into private options, but only £300 pellets were offered, which may deter foxes. Carly says the foxes in the area are becoming “out of control” and has contacted The Fox Project for help.
“I was very lucky that we came away with just needing some tetanus shots and some antibiotics. I would hate to find out that in a week or in a few weeks’ time someone else isn't so lucky,” she said.
Trevor Williams, founder of The Fox Project, said such incidents are extremely rare, with none reported in over a decade. He believes the animal was a young cub, as adult foxes would avoid such a vulnerable position. He explained that this time of year sees fox families breaking up, with cubs around four-and-a-half months old. While most cubs avoid humans, a few may wander into homes out of curiosity.
Williams advised keeping doors closed and using non-toxic repellents. “Obviously, taking care to keep doors closed, despite the extreme weather, is a basic precaution. But anyone concerned about foxes regularly sharing their environment can reduce activity and discourage them very easily by use of safe, non-toxic mammal repellents easily acquired from garden centres and hardware stores,” he added.
