A fox has torn a baby’s finger off after dragging him from his cot in what is believed to be the worst attack of its kind in Britain.
The child’s mother, in the next room, heard a piercing scream then a heavy thud as the four-week-old boy was flung to the floor.
To her horror, when she rushed into her son’s room, she saw that his hand was lodged ‘halfway down the animal’s throat’ and she fought desperately to release him, repeatedly kicking the fox until it eventually let go.
Surgeons later reattached the baby’s finger in an ‘extremely difficult’ but successful three-hour operation. ‘The baby is recovering well,’ said a source.
The child, who is thought to have been asleep when the animal struck, also suffered puncture wounds to the face.
The fox had crept into the house through an open back door, which was apparently awaiting repair by the council.
The horrific attack in suburban Bromley, South-East London, has revived the debate over culling urban foxes, a move supported by Boris Johnson, the capital’s Mayor.
