Personal trainer 'saves pet Chihuahua from second vicious fox attack' in Islington

A personal trainer has told how she fought off a fox in her garden for a second time after it attacked her pet Chihuahua.

Marie Wilson, from Islington, told of her horror after finding her beloved pet dog Finley locked in the fox’s jaws in her front garden on a Friday evening.

She rushed to the aid of her 11-year-old pet and said she “physically beat the fox up with her bare hands” until it let go of the dog.

The attack on July 21 comes just five months after she broke her toe while fighting off a fox that viciously mauled her seven-year-old Chihuahua Madison.

Ms Wilson, 43, told the Standard: “I had to physically beat the fox up with my bare hands to let go of my Chihuahua from his jaws.

“Finley screamed. And that’s when I dragged the fox up away from Finley’s neck and pushed it against the wall.

“I cut my leg during the process then all three of us ran inside. Neighbours saw and heard it all and we’re shocked it had happened again to me.”

Ms Wilson said Finley was left with a cut to his neck but was relatively unscathed compared to when Madison was attacked in March and suffered deep lacerations and lost several teeth.

She has urged Islington Council to do more to tackle to urban foxes and said there was an “explosion of fox numbers in her area”.

Ms Wilson added: “It’s as if they are waiting for me or a child to be bitten and attacked.”

An Islington Council spokesman said: “We understand how upsetting attacks on pets by foxes can be, and sympathise with Ms Wilson. We hope her dog makes a full recovery.

“Unfortunately, under existing controls, the council has no remit to regulate local fox populations. We’d suggest Ms Wilson contacts the Fox Project, which provides helpful practical advice on deterring the animals.”