Mr Fox?

Not long after moving to London, late one night, I heard a scream from outside. It sounded like a woman or a child in pain. I lived in a notoriously rough area of London so it wasn't out of the norm, but the scream came again - and it was getting closer.

I ran to the balcony of our flat, and tried to find the source of the scream in the pitch black night. At that moment, the culprit crept into the shadow of the street light. It was a fox. In fact, it was an urban fox.

Its incredible living in a city as densly populated as London, and seeing foxes prowl around in the dark of the night. A 2006 article from The National Georaphic News estimates there is 16 foxes every square mile of London (Owen, 2006). They seem to be harmless and mainly just raid your bin, but the urban fox doesn't exist without controversy. In June of 2010, twin baby girls were attacked by a hungry fox on the prowl who entered the house possibly looking for food (BBC News, 2010). And this is just one example, foxes are known for killing pets and entering homes without any fear of humans.

While the above story is a chilling reminder that foxes, urban or not, are wild animals who hunt for prey - I have to say my more recent experiences of foxes have been a little less violent. One afternoon, while walking down a street in my home suburb of Kilburn, I saw a fox running for its dear life - from a house cat! The cat chased the fox out of it's front yard with no fear, while the fox was visibly afraid of its fluffy pursuer.

North West London area's such as Kilburn, Queens Park and West Hampstead seem to embrace the foxes - and there is a mysterious artists getting around painting a seemingly symbolic fox stencil all around the place. I say seeminlgy becuase nobody knows why or who is responsible. I'll leave you with the links below, there is a good read on the fox graffiti and a link to a gallery of photo's - and finally check out the below short film captuirng London's creatures of the night.x

Article! Gallery!

Published by gravitydave

Owen, J (May 15, 2006) 10,000 foxes roam London, retrieved (July 9, 2011) from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/foxes-london.html

BBC News (June 7, 2010) Mother's 'nightmare' after baby twins 'mauled' by fox, retrieved (July 9, 2011) from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10251349