‘There’s no nice way to kill an animal – but it was very swift’
RSPCA when they came round what had happened, and showed them where the fox’s body was and it was taken away.
‘They are going to conduct an investigation into the matter which is what I would expect them to do. The basics of this are really quite clear. I heard my hens being harassed by a fox. I put on some clothes, the nearest to hand and went outside. There was a fox and it was very frantic.
‘It had got caught in the netting on the electric fence around the cage and was stuck. The hens were very alarmed, the fox was in distress so I acted as I thought best. I have been subject to death threats so have a baseball bat in the house in the event that it becomes useful. The fox was entangled and unable to free itself.
‘You don’t stop to think. It didn’t seem a great idea to go back in the house and research and Google what one does in such a situation.
There is no nice way to kill an animal but it was very swift.’
Some social media users were quick to make fun of the situation, with one posting an image of a partly demolished house with the caption: ‘Jolyon’s house after finding a fly in the front room.’
Referencing Mr Maugham’s Brexit campaigning, the journalist Toby Young said: ‘Has anyone started a crowdfunder to bring a private prosecution against Jolyon Maugham yet?’
Mr Maugham also suggested the clubbing of a fox was condoned by his local council, Southwark, a claim repeated by Neil Coyle, Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark.
However, guidance from the council’s website explicitly states foxes are not categorised as pests and are protected by laws.
Urban foxes are becoming increasingly prevalent in towns and cities and over the past 20 years numbers have increased fourfold.
Research in 2017 suggested that Bournemouth had the highest concentration of urban foxes, with 60 per square mile, followed by London with 47.