Woman, 22, is attacked by an urban fox which crept on to her bed in London as she slept

Traumatised Jodie Nailard, 22, was savaged by the animal after it squeezed through a five inch gap in the patio doors at her ground floor flat

A woman who woke up screaming and covered in blood after she was bitten by a fox as she slept has said she is too terrified to be alone in her bedroom.

Traumatised Jodie Nailard, 22, was savaged by the animal after it squeezed through a five inch gap in the patio doors at her ground floor flat.

She told how she woke with a start when she felt a sharp pain in her bicep at 5.30am on Sunday in Clapham, South West London. 

Miss Nailard suffered six puncture wounds from the bite to her arm after the attack, and feared she had contracted rabies.

She told Mailonline: ‘I don’t have a window in my room, just patio door, so we kept it open because it was so hot. It was on the latch, there was only a five inch gap.

‘But there is no way I am opening the door again at night. I am traumatised by experience. I haven’t slept since the attack. 

‘I can’t be in the bedroom by myself at night any more. I’m just scared it will come back.

She suffered six puncture wounds from the bite to her arm

Miss Nailard's injuries

Miss Nailard’s injuries. She suffered six puncture wounds from the bite to her arm after the attack, and feared she had contracted rabies

Miss Nailard at the patio doors where the fox entered her flat in Clapham, south London

Miss Nailard at the patio doors where the fox entered her flat in Clapham, south London

‘It was something I never thought would happen to me. I’m not going to move, I’m not going to let a fox make me leave. It was just really bad luck. It was a freak accident.’ 

She told how she woke up with a ‘throbbing pain’ in her arm. 

Miss Nailard, a personal assistant, said ‘I was half asleep. I touched my arm and felt blood.

‘I sat up and looked at my arm. I moved my feet, it was on the end of the bed. I kicked it and it jumped off. It went behind the curtain.

The personal assistant told how she woke suddenly after feeling a throbbing pain in her arm

The personal assistant told how she woke suddenly after feeling a throbbing pain in her arm

‘I was screaming, crying, I was in so much pain.’

She said she woke her boyfriend Harry King and told him ‘I think I have been bitten by a fox.’

She said: ‘I was clenching my arm.

‘It was still behind the curtain looking at us. We shouted at it, threw pillows at it, but it stayed behind the curtain. 

Jodie suffered six puncture wounds from the bite to her arm after a fox (not pictured, file photo) sneaked in through the patio doors at her home

Jodie suffered six puncture wounds from the bite to her arm after a fox (not pictured, file photo) sneaked in through the patio doors at her home

‘Eventually, it crept off, I heard its paws scuttle across the room and it left where it had come in, through the patio doors.’

She then visited hospital and was kept in for two days where she was vaccinated against rabies, tetanus and polio. 

Fox attacks are rare in the UK but they do happen.

Miss Nailard is not the only person to be attacked by a fox in Britain. In the last year both a baby and a pensioner have been bitten, requiring medical attention

Miss Nailard is not the only person to be attacked by a fox in Britain. In the last year both a baby and a pensioner have been bitten, requiring medical attention

In February seven month old Raeya Wyatt was left with horrific injuries after being mauled by a fox that snuck into her house through the back and door and attacked her as she slept.

She was bitten on her foot and hand after the fox entered her home in Plymouth, Devon, through a back door that was on the latch.

Her grandfather Darren Boundry chased the fox out of the house and paramedics were called.  

She was later given a tetanus jab and antibiotics in hospital.

Mr Boundry said the fox had killed a neighbour’s cat just the day before.

‘It sneaked up the side of the shed. I just turned around and looked in the front room and the fox was right behind Raeya,’ he said.

‘The baby was screaming, it all happened in about 30 seconds. I just took her out then phoned the ambulance.’

And Raeya’s mother Leanne Boundry, 27, said that if the attack had lasted any longer. her daughter could have been ‘ripped to pieces.’ 

In 2013 four week old Denny Dolan had his finger nearly bitten off as a fox pulled him from the sofa at his home in Downham, south east London.

His mother Hayley Cawley, 28, wrestled with the fox and fought it off, but her son was left soaked in blood and had gashes to his face and a black eye where the fox hit him against the door frame. 

Seven month old Raeya Wyatt

Little Raeya was left with horrific injuries (right) after being mauled by a fox

In February seven month old Raeya Wyatt (left) was left with horrific injuries (right) after being mauled by a fox

The family said it was this fox that attacked little Raeya

The family said it was this fox that attacked little Raeya

In 2010, twins Isabella and Lola Koupparis were left with injuries to their arms and faces after they were mauled by an animal in their cots in Hackney, east London.

The animal had entered through patio doors. 

Their mother Pauline Koupparis told how she found her children after she heard cries over the baby monitor.

She told the BBC: ‘Isabella was head down in her cot. I noticed some blood and I thought maybe she had a nosebleed so I put the night light on and .. . I saw the fox at the end of Lola’s cot.

‘And then I saw that Lola was covered in blood as well. And I literally just wailed, screamed, I don’t know how to describe it. And then I heard Nick running up the stairs.’

Four week old Denny Dolan in 2013

Denny Dolan and his bandaged hand

In 2013 four week old Denny Dolan (pictured, left and his bandaged hand, right) had his finger nearly bitten off as a fox pulled him from the sofa at his home in Downham, south east London

They managed to chase the animal out of their house and their children had to be treated in hospital for bite wounds. 

Anthony Schofield, 49, suffered a fractured wrist and two inch-wide bite wounds when he and his girlfriend Tammy Chapple, 36, were attacked in the own home.

The animal managed to sneak into their home in Catford, south east London in July 2013.

Mr Schofield said he first spotted it in the bathroom, then tired to chase it out of the house but he then escaped to the living room.

Isabella, left, and Lola Koupparis recovering at home following their ordeal in 2010

Isabella, left, and Lola Koupparis recovering at home following their ordeal in 2010

Nick and Pauline Koupparis after the attack with their twins Isabella (left) and Lola (right) say they are still wary after the attack

Nick and Pauline Koupparis after the attack with their twins Isabella (left) and Lola (right) say they are still wary after the attack

It then started to attack his 14-year-old rescue cat. 

He said at the time: ‘She tried to escape by clambering up the curtain but the fox was clawing at her and bit through her jaw.

‘I hate to think what would have happened if she had been a baby.’

Mr Schofield, who is a carpenter, tried to pull the fox away from his pet but it clamped its jaws around his wrist instead.

When it finally let go, the animal attacked trainee teacher Miss Chapple as she tried to pull the cat to safety.

Anthony Schofield, 49, suffered a fractured wrist and two inch-wide bite wounds when he was attacked

Avril Clark was bitten by a fox in bed

Anthony Schofield, left, suffered a fractured wrist and two inch-wide bite wounds when he was attacked, and Avril Clark, right, woke up to find she was covered in blood after being bitten on her finger

Mr Schofield ended up dragging it to the garden where it made its escape.

In July last year grandmother Avril Clark, 71, woke up during the middle of the night and found herself covered in blood when she was bitten by a fox. 

The animal crept into her room after entering her house in Richmond through a catflap.

She felt something bite her finger and switched on the light to see it staring at her.  Blood was pouring from the two large gashes in her right arm and she had to receive treatment and get a tetanus jab at hospital. 

She told Mailonline: ‘I was in bed and I felt something bite my finger. I thought it must have been my cat and got out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

‘Then it came for my arm and I realised it was not my cat and that it was a fully-grown fox which must have got in through my catflap.

‘It was scary. You don’t expect to be attacked in your own bedroom by a fox during the middle of the night.’ 

The number of urban foxes is hard to quantify, but a recent study by the University of Brighton suggests there are 150,000 in towns and cities, up from 30,000 in the Nineties.

They live under buildings such as sheds, garages and summer houses where small entrance holes to their subterranean homes often escape notice.

Numbers tend to surge in the Spring as new cubs are born.



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk