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Savernake Road, where the feline population is living in terror |
The cats are getting creamed!
Toll of victims rises on street where owners fear foxes are attacking their beloved pets
REPORTS of a “killer fox” stalking the cats of Gospel Oak have multiplied in the wake of the New Journal investigation a fortnight ago.
As the roll call of missing and maimed moggies in Savernake Road and its surrounding streets continues to grow, some residents have laid the blame at the paws of urban foxes.
But others have bitten back, claiming the “McDonald’s drive-thru” of rabbit hutches and Hampstead fat cats is a culinary paradise naturally taken advantage of by the furry scavengers.
One thing is certain – local felines, usually famed for having nine lives, seem to have a cat in hell’s chance of survival.
In the last year, dozens of cats have gone missing in the space of less than a mile.
Eva Eppler, a university lecturer who moved from Savernake Road recently, told neighbours her cat had been badly wounded by a large fox a few months ago, when it was caught in a surprise attack.
The fox, she said, had leapt off a wall on to her pet.
Angela Taylor took extreme measures when her cat Empathy was mutilated by a pack of five foxes last year.
The primary school principal hired a gunman to exterminate the foxes after the attack near Pond Street left Empathy fighting for his life.
Ms Taylor said: “He had hundreds of puncture wounds all over his body, a totally broken jaw and a stump of a tail – a more mutilated piece of flesh you have yet to see.
“There’s a huge network of foxes around here. I’ve tried all the standard things to get rid of them, but nothing worked. They are getting blasé now and hunting in packs.”
She believes the foxes will continue to be a problem as long as bags of rubbish are left out.
Yas Cummins lost her three-year-old brown Burmese, Castro, just 10 days ago.
But she is convinced the plucky pet is “too lean and mean” to be taken out by a fox.
She said: “I’ve had lots of people calling to tell me the foxes have taken him, but I don’t think that’s the case.
“He got scared by the fireworks and ran away – he’s probably with an old lady somewhere getting fed. He’ll go where the food goes.”
Bob Rivera, who lives on Constantine Road, found a fox den in the garden of the house next to him on Savernake Road.
He said: “There are about five foxes living there.
“Over the years they’ve killed our rabbits and guinea pigs, but you can’t fault the fox for that.
“It’s like giving them a McDonald’s drive-thru.”
His wife, Angela, caught the fox in the act of eating her beloved guinea pig, Tutti Frutti.
She said: “I caught one actually jumping over the fence with a guinea pig in its mouth bold as you like at three o’clock in the afternoon. There was nothing I could do.
“As it turns to winter they’re going to get hungrier and do this more.”
She added: “My little Jack Russell’s not let out at night.
“We stand outside with her when she does her nightly widdle.
“But I’m very fond of foxes.
“I think it’s asking too much of them not to eat all the free-range food roaming about here. That’s nature.”
Anyone with information about Castro the cat is urged to call Yas Cummings on 07790 904 689. |
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