Anger over ‘protection’ given to foxes plaguing celebrity enclave

Council bosses were today accused of ignoring a plague of urban foxes in a north London celebrity enclave by treating them as though they have “human rights”.

Brent council has refused to move a family of foxes that have been entering homes in Queen’s Park in case it causes the animals “unnecessary suffering”.

Resident and former Arsenal and England footballer Ian Wright has told how he now fears that his young daughter could be attacked by one of the foxes.

Actresses Sienna Miller and Thandie Newton also have properties in the area.

The foxes have set up a den in the overgrown garden of a council block which backs onto several million-pound homes.

Wright, 48, said he was now wary of allowing his two-year-old daughter Lola to play in the garden without supervision.

His wife Nancy, who is expecting their second child this week, said: “It is pretty frightening. Lola loves playing in the garden and we can’t now leave her in there just to run about.

“We have put netting up so it stops them getting in. It is frightening because we have a little girl and we hear stories about them coming and attacking kids.”

When contacted by residents, Brent council said it did not have the funding to deal with foxes but hoped to serve a legal notice on the owner of the property to remove the vegetation.

The council claimed it could leave itself open to prosecution if it moved the animals.

Craig Johnstone, of the council’s Public and Animal Health Team, wrote in an email: “Dealing with foxes is quite a specialist field. It’s not that simple to just trap and relocate them.

“Doing this could leave us open to prosecution as releasing a fox into another area (countryside) could cause the fox unnecessary suffering.”

Conservative Assembly member Andrew Boff said: “Of course you can be humane but for goodness sake they are not people, they are foxes — of course it’s wrong to give them ‘human rights’.