Toddler attacked by urban fox as he slept in bed in south London

The fox is thought to have entered the house through a cat flap

There has been increased media interest in urban foxes in London in recent years. (Getty Images)

A two-year old boy has been taken to hospital after he was attacked in his sleep by an urban fox.

The toddler’s parents were alerted to the attack by their son’s screams, before chasing the animal into another bedroom.

The urban fox hid under a bed in the room until it could be removed from the house.

The child received serious cuts to his foot in the incident, which happened at 2am last Thursday. He was taken to Croydon University Hospital.

The parents said they believed the fox entered the house through a faulty cat flap, which has now been covered up.

The attack happened in New Addington, in the south London borough of Croydon.

The boy’s grandmother Sharon Vaizey, 46, told local paper the Croydon Advertiser that the child was a “tough” boy, but added:

“If they didn’t hear the fox then it could have run off with him. They have put a panel on the cat flap now so it shouldn’t happen again but my daughter said she wanted to kill the fox.”

The attack follows a number of reports of urban fox attacks in London, which the city’s mayor Boris Johnson described as a “growing problem” last year.

Experts have previously said that despite increased media interests, the number of urban foxes hasn’t actually increased since the 1980s, however.