London Mayor Boris Johnson urges fox control after twins attacked

Twin baby girls mauled by a fox as they slept remained in hospital today as London Mayor Boris Johnson said councils should "focus on their duties for pest control".

Lola and Isabella Koupparis, aged nine months, were found crying and covered in blood after the fox went into their upstairs bedroom and attacked them in their cots in Hackney, east London.

They were taken to the Royal London Hospital in east London after the incident on Saturday night but Isabella was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in central London last night for further treatment.

A GOSH NHS Trust spokeswoman said today: "Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust can confirm that Isabella Koupparis is still a patient at the hospital and continues to receive the highest possible levels of care from medical staff."

The Royal London Hospital said Lola remained in a serious but stable condition.

Meanwhile Mr Johnson said foxes were a pest and a menace and could in rare circumstances pose a threat to humans.

He told reporters: "Therefore it's right that boroughs should focus on their duties for pest control because as romantic and cuddly as a fox is, it is also a pest."

Family members reportedly said that the fox attack could be "life-changing" for the twins.

Their mother, Pauline Koupparis, discovered the tots looking "like something from a horror movie" after the mauling and described it as "like a living nightmare".

Lola had facial injuries and some puncture marks on her arm, while Isabella suffered injuries to her arm, she said.

She added that both children had undergone surgery.

Mrs Koupparis told radio station BBC London: "It's something I would never expect to happen to anybody, let alone happen to my beautiful girls."

The twins were attacked as they slept at their parents' smart three-storey home at around 10pm on Saturday.

Their four-year-old brother, Max, who was also sleeping upstairs, was not hurt.

The fox is thought to have crept in through a door on the ground floor which had been left open because of the hot weather while Mrs Koupparis and her husband Nick watched Britain's Got Talent on television.

After the attack pest controllers set fox traps in the back garden and a fox found in one of the devices last night was humanely destroyed by a vet yesterday.