CUNNING little thing!This creature has totally outfoxed the experts that say a fox never enters people's homes by curling up in an Ipswich front room.

CUNNING little thing!

This creature has totally outfoxed the experts that say a fox never enters people's homes by curling up in an Ipswich front room.

The fox stole into the lounge of Ipswich cabbie John Bell in Maybury Road and made himself quite at home - not budging for nearly an hour and even dozing off.

Experts said that it was very rare for foxes to walk into domestic homes in the wake of a shocking attack by an urban fox in Kent on a 14-month-old baby last month.

The incident in Maybury Road was an entirely different affair with the fox a picture of docility compared to the animal who clamped its jaws around the head of little Louis Day.

The fox sneaked into the house while Mr Bell's lady friend Lynda Chenery was at home. She called up Mr Bell to tell him of the unexpected house caller and he couldn't believe his ears.

"I thought she'd been on the scotch!" he said. "I came home and there it was. It was lying under the table, lying in the lounge. You'd got all these so-called experts saying foxes won't come into houses and there it was, perfectly at home."

Some residents weren't at all pleased to see the fox, however.

The couple's cat, Bubbles, was conspicuously absent and Mr Bell presumed it was hiding in some thick curtains. He added that the fox may have followed the cat inside - and noticed that part of the net curtains were torn.

Perhaps the fox was waiting for Bubbles to reappear? "All I know is that Bubbles only reappeared after the RSPCA had taken the fox away," replied Mr Bell, 53.

"We waited three-quarters of an hour for the RSPCA to turn up. It hardly moved - it was lying there all the time."

The only time the fox bared its teeth was when the RSPCA handler snared it in a net before releasing it in the Ravenswood area.

"The RSPCA man said he's never seen a fox in a house before," added Mr Bell. "We didn't feel intimidated. When it was in the net Lynda went to stroke it but the RSPCA man reminded her 'It is a wild animal'."

An RSPCA spokesman said it was rare for foxes to get so close to humans unless they were encouraged by food being left out.

She said: "People have to remember that these are wild animals and should be treated as such. People shouldn't feed them and they should be careful where they leave their rubbish.

"If you need to leave bin bags out, make sure it's on the day they are due to be collected or foxes could rip them open to search for food."

The spokesman said family pets were unlikely to be attacked by foxes. But she advised anyone with rabbits or chickens to make sure they were well locked up at night.

Weblink: www.rspca.org.uk