'Friendly' fox reared by landlord is barred from his pub after a month-old baby was mauled in a vicious attack
- Tod the fox had been allowed the run of the Eager Beaver in Beverley, East Yorkshire
- He was taken in and tamed by landlord Phil Walker and his daughter Georgina when he was just two weeks old
- After this weeks attack on five-week-old baby, Tod has been barred
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A 'tame' fox has had his time at the bar after being banned from his local.
Tod the fox had been allowed the run of the Eager Beaver in Beverley, East Yorkshire, after landlord Phil Walker and his daughter Georgina took him in when he was just two weeks old and hand-reared him.
But following this week's attack on five-week-old Denny Dolan, which left the baby in intensive care after he was mauled by an urban fox, and a complaint from a regular, Mr Walker has removed Tod from the public bar.
Tod the fox had been allowed the run of the bar at the Eager Beaver in Beverley, East Yorkshire, after landlord Phil Walker and his daughter Georgina took him in when he was just two weeks old
Despite his friendship with Jack Russell Eva, Tod has now been banned from the bar
The 56-year-old, who said he could not release Tod into the wild because he has an injured leg, said the wild creature is now so tame he sleeps on his bed.
He said: 'It's a shame because he has been no problem and most customers really like him. He had become a bit of an attraction.
'However I received a complaint from a regular so have had to keep him upstairs where we live.
'When the weather is good we keep him in a pen in the beer garden with our Jack Russell Eva.'
'He is completely house trained and sleeps on my bed at night.
'There will be an unfair backlash on foxes following the attack in London. Foxes are really shy and timid so the attack sounds unusual.'
Mr Walker said Tod cannot be released into the wild because he has an injured leg. He claims the wild creature is now so tame he sleeps on his bed
Nineteen year old Georgina Walker walks the fox on a lead around Beverley with his Jack Russell pal
'However, as a precaution I have had to bar Tod from the pub.'
His 19-year-old daughter who walks the fox on a lead around Beverley said: 'We had two abandoned foxes brought to us by a friend when they were just two weeks old.
'We bottle fed them, but one of them became too dominant so we had to let him go.
'But Todd has a bad leg and he needed that extra bit of care. It's a shame he is no longer allowed in the bar but I can understand people's fears.'
The attack on Denny Dolan happened on February 6, and has sparked a heated debate on whether more should be done to cull urban foxes.
His terrified mother Hayley Cawley found her living room ‘covered in blood’ and the fox mauling her son during the attack in their home in Bromley, Kent.
The attack on Denny Dolan happened on February and left him in intensive care. It has sparked a debate on whether more should be done to cull urban foxes
Mother-of-three Miss 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.
Denny had to have his finger reattached in surgery and needed stitches to his cheek, as well as treatment for injuries to his face and head.
His mother was said to be ‘shaking’ and ‘traumatised’ yesterday and keeping a vigil by her baby’s bedside at the Evelina Children’s Hospital in central London with her 28-year-old partner Paul Dolan.
Mr Dolan’s sister Lorraine Murphy, 42, said her brother had told her what had happened and she had ‘feared the worst’ after the baby was taken to hospital.
But the little boy is now believed to be recovering well.
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