Fox attack fears forces Littlehampton pensioner out

Barbara Huggins, of White Horses Way, said she feared for the life of her treasured two-year-old chihuahua following a recent spate of attacks by the wild animals on other domestic pets in the road.

The desperate 65-year-old said that less than two months ago, she saw a fox kill a cat in her back garden, and at the end of last month, another cat was attacked by foxes, just yards away from her bungalow.

“I can’t take this any more,” she said. “My Chihuahua is the only family I have left. He is my life and soul. I can’t sleep because I’m terrified that the foxes will kill him.

“I’ve tried everything but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to sell my bungalow but if that’s what it takes then that’s what I have to do.”

Barbara, who lives alone, said the brazen foxes had even ventured inside her home, when she left her back door open, damaging parts of her lounge.

She has now started preliminary work with estate agents Glyn Jones to put her home on the market – less than a year after moving into the property. “If I knew there was a fox problem before I bought the bungalow I would have never have moved here,” she admitted.

She believes foxes are living in a passageway at the rear of her home.

Barara claims the path is full of rubbish and waste food which is encouraging the animals into the area. She has approached Arun District Council to see if the foxes can be culled or relocated. However, she was informed by the council that this would be not be possible.

Her story follows an incident in Worthing last month which saw foxes kill a seven-year-old girl’s pet guinea pig.

Foxes made headlines nationally, last week, when one attacked a baby in Bromley, south London.

Arun District Council has published a list of guidelines on its website, advising how residents can deter foxes. The authority urged people not to feed the creatures, to dispose of rubbish in a secure bin, not just in plastic bags, and to seal any small gaps in fences and under sheds, where foxes tend to nest.

Similar advice was given by Simon Wild, of West Sussex Wildlife Protection, in a letter to the Gazette, in 2011, in which he said culling foxes was “futile”, as more would simply move into the vacant territory.