Morning:
13°c
Fox bites student sleeping in attic
Rob Parsons22 Jun 2011
A student asleep in his attic bedroom woke up in horror from the pain of a fox biting him on his right eyelid.
It is believed the animal followed a cat through the cat flap. It went three floors up to the top of the house in Stockwell before biting 24-year-old Mario Castilli.
Mr Castilli said: "It was a 5.30am. I was asleep when I felt something bite me near my right eye. It was hard, it woke me up. I saw a fox, it was big."
The Italian exchange student was left with cuts, bruises and swelling around his eye. Ursula Keeling, 48, whose house Mr Castilli was staying in, said: "The fox got right to the top of the house in the converted bedroom in the attic where Mario was sleeping.
"He woke up to find a fox biting him hard on his face. He saw it scurry out. It was very frightening for him. I took him to hospital where he had to have a tetanus jab and antibiotics."
Mrs Keeling, who runs a food company, said it was not the first time a fox had got into the house. In February 2009 a vixen got in through the cat flap and chewed up clothes and shoes in a dressing room on the first floor next to her seven-year-old daughter Eila's bedroom.
Mrs Keeling and her husband Simon, 54, a banker, were woken by the noise and chased it from the house. The ground floor of their house was covered in bones and refuse which the fox had brought in after ripping up rubbish bags outside. Mrs Keeling, who is now calling for a council cull on foxes, said: "We were lucky my daughter's bedroom door was closed or it could have got into her room. God knows what could have happened. It's frightening, especially when you have children in the house. I can't believe it's happened again and someone has got hurt this time."
Mrs Keeling said she called Lambeth council after the first incident, but "they were not particularly helpful". She said: "We've got to get the message across that because they are predators they have no fear of anyone. If you see them on the road they just watch you. They are dangerous. It is important they are culled. We've got people around here who feed the foxes and that's only making the problem worse." In May last year nine-month-old twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis spent a week in hospital after a fox bit them in their cots at their home in Hackney.
Reader views (12)
So if a fox had got through the cat flap before, why didn't they do anything about it then?
Foxes are being driven out of the countryside by the urban sprawl, and finding food easier in dustbins
- Steve Hamilton, Totnes, Devon, 23/06/2011 14:09
Report abuse
Are these people who welcome foxes into their neighbourhood the same people who complain about asylum seekers and economic migrants?
- Bloke, Lambeth, 23/06/2011 10:28
Report abuse
Ho hum, the fox apologists out in force again. Foxes are no better and no worse than rats, but I don't see the FAs defending the latter. Not as fluffy I suppose
- Sally, Surrey, 22/06/2011 18:58
Report abuse
Another bunch of idiotic comments!
I agree with most of Chris's comments though a bigger nuisance are the morons who continue to feed urban foxes! This is why we have such a problem.
As for the comments on people doubting the ability for a fully grown fox to get through a cat flap - how do you think they cope in the undergrowth etc - just like cats they can squeeze themselves through the smallest spaces when necessary!
- mg, Essex, 22/06/2011 15:32
Report abuse
Like the way the Mrs said that it could have been worse, it could have been her daughter. The young man was lucky not to lose his eye.
- Sue R, London, 22/06/2011 15:26
Report abuse
It got through a cat flap. How big can it have really been, little bigger than a cat perhaps?? Ooh, that'll make it a cub then.
- Wispy Wonder, London, 22/06/2011 13:12
Report abuse
Mario wake up? Ive just found out Basil is the most popular herb in Italy...bum,bum ?.
- scony, middlesbrough, 22/06/2011 12:48
Report abuse
I'm fed up of hearing these non-stories. Whilst I feel sorry for the person who was bitten it is NOT the fault of of foxes.
People need to take responsibility for the cause of the numbers of foxes. Yes it is our fault. The dropping of rubbish including takeaway cartons, fly tipping, not cleaning out recylable containers properly and not tying these bags up properly, is causing the foxes to encroach on the 'human world' and become braver. Culling is not the answer. Taking responsibilty is. Foxes have every right to live and search for food. Just being realistic.
- Chris, London, 22/06/2011 12:48
Report abuse
I hope mrs keeling has put mr castilli down on her tax return but more to the point is the fox ok did it need any medical attention
- anon leicestershire, leicestershire, 22/06/2011 12:43
Report abuse
These Foxes are getting stupid ( must be something in the food ) mind you its not doing all that for us . I'd like to see a fox get through a cat flap. Still what with the animal and our friend in this attic they've both now had there 5 minutes of fame . I wonder how many others the fox missed on the way up. I hope this house /flat has a fire escape .
- Hamilton Straker, Ealing West London, 22/06/2011 12:07
Report abuse
Hope the fox had it's jabs. When it realised what it had bitten it went straight to A&E for a stomach pump and a power shower after realising it had been in a student's digs.
- Stooky, London UK, 22/06/2011 11:35
Report abuse
Here we go with the fox persecution again. Foxes by and large are not dangerous and will run if approached. A cull benefits nobody as other foxes will fill the void.
- Paul, IoD, London, 22/06/2011 11:18
Report abuse
