'Vicious' fox traps eight people in Cambridgeshire sports club

Mark Magee photographed the fox through a window from the safety of the club

A "vicious" fox trapped eight people inside a sports club for three hours as it stalked them from the car park.

The animal appeared as people were preparing to leave Alconbury Sports and Social Club, Cambridgeshire.

Panic reigned, with a woman bitten, a man falling off his bicycle as he was chased and a pest controller pursued, the Hunts Post first reported.

Club chairman Bruce Staines, who was chased around the car park, said he had "never seen anything like it".

Mr Staines told the BBC he "tweaked his groin" trying to get away from the marauding animal and back to the safety of the club.

"None of us could get out. When we tried to use a side door, the fox heard and came haring round there."

'Wasn't afraid'

A woman who tried to distract the fox with food sustained a bite to her hand.

A man who tried to outpace the creature on his bicycle was chased into a field and fell off, losing his glasses in the process.

"He had to fend the fox off with his bicycle," Mr Staines said.

The fox trapped people inside the club for about three hours, stalking them from the car park

Club members ended up barricaded inside the building, watching the fox on the CCTV system as it stalked outside, at about 22:00 BST on Saturday.

The local pest controller was called, but when he tried to approach the animal it "went for him" and chased him back to his car.

The fox was eventually caught and destroyed.

The pest controller's view

Graeme Brown, a pest controller for 18 years, was called in to help those trapped inside the club.

"The fox started circling my car as soon as I arrived," he said.

He tried to move it on by stamping his feet, shouting and waving his arms but when it refused to move he was "forced to beat a retreat".

He said he had "never come across such a forward and aggressive fox as this one".

"People who don't know about these animals should not approach them and never feed them. You're asking to be bitten.

"Leaving this fox was not an option. I have no doubt about that," he said.

"It was active in the area of a play park and I would not be prepared to put children at risk."

"Foxes can look very sweet, but as a family-orientated club we had real concerns about this rather vicious animal. We have hundreds of children playing in our leagues here," Mr Staines said.

He said the pest controller suggested the fox may have been an urban animal, which somehow found itself in the middle of the countryside.

"That might be why it wasn't at all afraid of humans."

Neither the Wildlife Trust nor RSPCA was prepared to comment on the behaviour of the fox as their staff had not seen the animal.