A Fishponds grandmother has described her “absolutely amazing” nightly ritual of feeding a fox by hand.
Val Wilks, 59, of Beechen Drive, has been visited by the animal and its companions for around six weeks.
She said: “I’m just fascinated by them and I feel sorry for them because all these buildings are going up and taking their natural habitat away.”
The fox that approaches Mrs Wilks’ house has been christened ‘Gutsy’, while its more timid companion has been dubbed ‘Shy’.
“We were out there one night and saw one across the road. I had some meat in the fridge and thought, ‘I’ll get some of that’,” said Mrs Wilks, recalling how it all began.
That night, Gutsy surprised Mrs Wilks by scurrying up to her front gate and grabbing the food out of her hand.
Ever since then, Gutsy appears daily at 10pm in the expectation a free meal will be served - and that hope is rarely dashed.
She said: “What we’ve been doing is buying dog food and putting it in the dish with a couple of packets of pork luncheon meat and we’ve been feeding them - and Gutsy keeps coming and taking it out our hand.
Mrs Wilks, whose granddaughters Amber-Leigh, aged five, and Lola-Jade, three, have also been getting in on the action, along with their mother Mel.
“The five-year-old gets so excited and she wants to stay up and feed them, but if she’s naughty we say ‘you’re not feeding them any more’.” said Mrs Wilks, laughing.
Mrs Wilks estimates there are between six and eight foxes that visit her in total, with most hiding in bushes as they await their grub.
Bristol City Council policy recommends against feeding foxes and suggests people do not approach the animals in case they bite in self-defence when cornered.
