Urban Fox Trappings Quadruple

New fortnightly bin collections, leaving rubbish bags piling near houses, are being blamed for helping bring the once-shy creatures closer to people's homes in search of food. Pest control companies warned that call-outs from members of the public to deal with foxes had surged in recent years.

It came as new cases of feral foxes attacking children and pets came to light after the case of two twin baby girls who were mauled in their cot at their home in Hackney, east London. Meanwhile the Government signalled that it would consider changing the law to force councils to take action.

Peter Crowden, the chairman of the National Pest Technicians Association, said that private operators across the country were getting increasing numbers of calls from householders to deal with foxes.

With poisoning outlawed, foxes have to be individually trapped and taken to a vet to be put down humanely at a cost of about £100 per animal. He said his own company in Rutland had been asked to trap just under 100 foxes in the past year, compared with about 25 in 2007. "The number being controlled has quadrupled," he said.

"We are getting a rise in urban areas because there is so much food freely available, so much waste food. We are a very dirty society, we are a very wasteful society, people are the problem, it is the food – the kebabs, the chicken carcass on the compost heap, the fortnightly bin collections. There is more food being left in the streets, attracting the urban foxes."

Almost half of local authorities have introduced new fortnightly rubbish collections in recent years according to estimates.

Britain's urban fox population is widely estimated to be about 30,000 but Mr Crowden said that it could be as high as 50,000.

Sir George Young, the Leader of the commons, said that the Government would consider whether changing the law to force councils to control foxes in their areas was necessary. At present local authorities have no legal requirement to control urban foxes even when residents complain.

Trevor Williams, director of The Fox Project, a charity based in Kent which runs a telephone line offering advice on deterring foxes, said that populations appeared to be stable but the animals themselves had become more visible as they increasingly lose their fear of humans.

He said: "I think they have simply got our measure, they know that we are slow, they are not even chased or shouted at."

Article provided by Rutland Pest Control