Three-month-old Josephine Clarkson was left covered in blood after a wild fox entered her Watford home and bit her head on Thursday night.
Her mother, Carly Clarkson, 37, had dozed off while feeding the infant in their Hertfordshire home when the wild animal crept inside through an open back door and attacked the sleeping baby.
Ms Clarkson woke up to find the fox sniffing her face in the bedroom, before noticing blood surrounding her newborn lying right beside her.
She screamed in terror as she discovered four bloody puncture wounds on Josephine's head, which she later described as looking "like a dog had bitten a football".
The mother-of-two snatched up the baby and chased the animal to the top of the stairs, before rushing to check on her one-year-old daughter in an adjacent bedroom.
Recalling the harrowing moment, Ms Clarkson said: "Imagine waking up and your child's blood is next to you. It was absolutely horrifying."
Fox entry captured on security camera
Security camera footage from the property captured the wild animal wandering around the back garden moments before it sneaked through the open doorway on Thursday evening.
Watford is a market town and borough in Hertfordshire, located 15 miles northwest of central London.
Ms Clarkson noted that it may only have been due to the exact position they had fallen asleep in that the fox's bites missed her daughter's face or an artery in her leg.
She suggested the animal might have been attempting to pull the three-month-old infant away with it during the intrusion.
Emergency hospital treatment and medical checks
Following the attack, the family rushed to Watford General Hospital at around 9.45pm on Thursday night for emergency medical evaluation.
Watford General Hospital is a major National Health Service acute hospital in Hertfordshire, operated by West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Doctors confirmed that Josephine had suffered no fractures to her skull and that there were no medical concerns regarding potential brain injury.
The infant received preventive medical care, including tetanus vaccinations and antibiotics to guard against bacterial infections from animal bite wounds.
Reflecting on the hospital visit, Ms Clarkson said: "I was very lucky that we came away with just needing some tetanus shots and some antibiotics. I would hate to find out that in a week or in a few weeks' time someone else isn't so lucky."
Brazen fox encounters and local response
The ordeal did not end after the family left the bedroom.
As Ms Clarkson and her husband were preparing to leave for the hospital, they spotted a fox coming right up to their front door and seemingly trying to gain entry to the house.
The parents believe the animal approaching the front door may have been the very same fox that had bitten Josephine earlier in the evening.
The traumatic experience has left Ms Clarkson terrified of using her garden or leaving doors open while her two young daughters are around.
She said: "I feel absolutely violated, I don't feel safe in my home with two young children. Clearly there is an issue of either the same fox or multiple foxes being fed or just really acclimatising and becoming comfortable with people."
The family reported the attack to Watford Borough Council, the local government authority responsible for council services, and inquired about private pest control options.
However, the only treatment offered to the family was £300 deterrent pellets designed to discourage foxes from entering residential gardens.
Believing that brazen foxes in the area are becoming out of control, Ms Clarkson contacted specialist charity The Fox Project for assistance.
Wildlife expert explanation and safety advice
Trevor Williams, founder of UK wildlife charity The Fox Project, described incidents of this nature as extremely rare, noting that the organisation had not heard of a similar case in over a decade, with the last recorded occurrence around 2010 or 2012.
The Fox Project, established in 1993, is a registered charity operating an information service and wildlife rescue team across southeast England.
Analyzing the incident, Mr Williams said: "It's pretty clear to me that this incident involves a young cub. Experienced adult foxes would never behave in this way and will always avoid putting themselves in such a vulnerable position."
He explained that late summer is the time of year when annual dispersal takes place and fox families break up, with cubs reaching around four and a half months old.
While most cubs quickly develop natural instincts to avoid immediate human proximity, a small number wander through open doors into homes or businesses while investigating unfamiliar territory.
Mr Williams added: "If undisturbed, as this particular cub appears to have been, their natural curiosity will oblige them to check out everything at leisure and, in this case, it looks as if it's tested out its sharp young canines on the tender skin of a baby."
He emphasised that while the event was alarming for the mother, it thankfully resulted in only superficial injury.
To guard against urban foxes, Mr Williams advised that taking care to keep doors closed, despite extreme weather, is a basic precaution.
He added that anyone concerned about foxes regularly sharing their environment can easily reduce activity and discourage them by using safe, non-toxic mammal repellents available from garden centres and hardware stores.
