NEWS AND COMMENT: Natasha Prayag discovered an urban fox in her washing machine, which doesn’t actually surprise me that much because some foxes, especially if you feed them, become quite habituated to you and if they are confident, they are likely to come into your home. That may scare the living daylights out of some people who are risk-averse but it pleases me. It happened to me once when I was treating a fox for mange with a homeopathic remedy. She gradually got used to me and lost almost any fear that she had.
Natasha left her front door open to go to her car and the fox sneaked in to her home in Streatham, London, UK. She almost immediately saw the fox in the living room before it bolted. They looked for the fox in their home and finally Natasha’s boyfriend, Adam, spotted him/her peeking out of the washing machine. Natasha tweeted it on her Twitter account page.
Honestly, guys. I’ve got a fox stuck in my washing machine. WHAT THE ACTUAL FOX pic.twitter.com/dyVBTiTEXn
— Natasha Prayag (@NatashaTP) May 25, 2021
They tried to scare the fox out of the washing machine but he refused to go because he was apparently enjoying it so much. They say the fox was quite small which indicates that the or she was a sub-adult and therefore possibly inexperienced with dealing with people. Sub-adults can do some silly things and that applies to any animal (or human).
She decided to try and coax the fox out with food having put aside the thought of calling a fox charity to help them remove the fox as it was 11pm. It seemed that the fox left of his own volition although they tried to tempt him out by putting cooked pea pasta at the back door. He did not eat the pasta.
The RSPCA recommend that people call them or a local wildlife centre for advice if this sort of thing happens. Firstly, I like the way that Natasha and Adam dealt with it. The behaved calmly and sensibly and did no harm to the fox. That’s the key to dealing with wild animals. The RSPCA advise that people do not try and remove a wild animal themselves. I think what they mean is not to try and do it physically by grabbing the animal. I would agree with that but Natasha and Adam dealt with it sensitively and were patient.
SOME MORE ON FOXES:
