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Urban Fox Attacks Sleeping Twins
Dear London Dog Forum,With reference to the letter of 08.06 2010 on Urban Fox Attacks, there is, in today's Independent (15.06.2010) an article ("We shouldn't cry wolf about foxes.") describing the history of the urban fox and foxes in general in Britain. It concludes by comparing the rarity of fox attacks compared to the serious injuries caused annually by dogs. Nowhere, to my knowledge, in a number of articles published on this subject has it been pointed out that foxes' lives are governed by breeding and instinct whereas most dogs' behaviour is the result of training (or lack of it!) by human beings!
Sincerely,
R.Griffiths
Torquay
Posted 16th June 2010
The horror and dismay engendered by the injuries inflicted recently by an urban fox on two sleeping babies leads us to seek an explanation for the attack.
Foxes are natural predators. Urban foxes find the nourishment they need by foraging and scavenging among dustbins and other human waste food outlets. They supplement this by preying on small rodents (rats, mice, squirrel &c). But they still retain a sense memory of prey normally found in their more natural rural environment.
Could this fox have mistaken two babies in a dark room on a hot night for one of its natural prey – rabbits or lambs? Were the babies emitting vocal sounds that the fox could have mistakenly believed was the bleating of lambs? Did they smell similar? What is certain is that young humans are not in any way one of the fox’s natural food sources.
It is possibly an example of tragic mistaken identity. The dissimilarity between this attack by a fox and the infrequent attacks by dogs on young children is that the parents of the twins involved in the fox attack could not have foreseen the potential danger. However, any dog owner who wittingly leaves his or her dog alone with young children is turning a blind eye to the possibility of a serious attack.
One likely cause of attacks by dogs on young children, particularly with younger dogs, is that the behaviour of the child leads the dog to believe that the child is engaging the dog in some form of play, similar to the ‘training play’ the dog would experience as a puppy either with its parents or with its siblings. The ‘play’ becomes boisterous and the playful nips of the dog become serious bites.
Another possible cause with young children, even with normally very tolerant dogs, may be that the child is over-persistent in getting a response from the dog and may provoke it beyond its normal patience threshold into re-acting atypically. ‘Play’ is no longer seen as ‘play’ but as aggressive attack and is met with an aggressive response.
The one lesson to be learned is NEVER, EVER LEAVE A DOG ALONE WITH A BABY OR A YOUNG CHILD - even if the dog is well trained and normally of mild and gentle disposition. NEVER! It may be the inadvertent, seemingly innocent behaviour of the child that triggers a long dormant defence mechanism in the dog with too often tragic consequences.
Dogs, even over centuries of domestication still retain vestiges of their origins as wild pack animals. Remember that man, however civilised, is still reputed to bear the “mark of Cain” and of behaving accordingly.
G.K.R.
Highgate
Posted 8th June 2010
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