A FAMILY of foxes are terrorising a pensioner from Chiswick who claimed last week the animals were invading her house, and growing bolder every day.

The four pests arrive in the garden of Moira Mack’s house in Strand-on-the-Green most evenings, and quite happily come into her home in their search for food.

The 72-year-old Mrs Mack, who has lived in the area for 33 years, told the Times she blamed the council for lack of action: "What are they going to do about it? I had to chase them from my house and I’m a disabled pensioner with not much speed on my pins. We don’t pay rates to have foxes living in our house.

"They’re horrible and mangy looking animals. I live alone and I’m petrified of them."

Mrs Mack said she now feared for her own safety: "They come in searching for food and it’s got much worse recently. They’re getting more aggressive and they’re getting bolder."

A council spokesman said foxes were protected by law and that therefore they were completely impotent in the matter: "We could catch them and release them elsewhere but that doesn’t solve the problem. Foxes are territorial and another fox will just move into the territory."

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA added that foxes did not pose a serious threat to humans: "We advise people to make sure all rubbish is put away inside proper bins or wheelie bins and not left in black bags, and for people not to feed them, as this can make the foxes tame and reliant on that food source.

"It’s very rare for foxes to go into people’s houses, they’re very timid animals that can be scared off by a domestic cat."

But Mrs Mack was not convinced: "My friend’s brother is a doctor and she says he’s had several patients suffering from fox bites."