A fox strayed into a house yesterday as a one-year-old baby girl played on the floor by herself.
Deborah Ward, 41, from Norfolk, screamed as she scooped up her little girl Scarlett and ran out into the street as it careered round her home.
Her neighbour, Tony Cooper, 69, dashed to help her as he chased the animal out of the house with a broom.
The drama came just weeks after an urban fox targeted five-week-old Denny Dolan in a horrific attack and ripped off one of his fingers in Bromley, Kent.
Mrs Ward said the fox got within inches of her daughter Scarlett at their home in Little Melton, Norfolk.
Deborah said: 'It was just so out of the blue. It was petrifying. I had just hung out my washing in the garden and my one-year-old was at the back door playing with the washing machine.
'I didn't know anything about it until I heard an enormous crash behind me when this massive fox came skidding through the room and bounced off my oven.
'It was definitely a male one because it was so big and was pooing all over the house.'
The mother-of-two added: 'It was obviously scared and trying to get away. It did a circuit of the house looking for somewhere to escape, and was jumping up at the windows to try and get through.
'I just screamed and grabbed my one-year-old and got out of the house.'
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Mrs Ward thought about calling her husband Kevin to go and help but he worked half an hour away. Neighbour Mr Cooper then rushed to her aid.
'I ran outside and my neighbour, who is an ex-farmer, came through with a broom to get rid of it. It had got itself cornered in the downstairs bathroom, so it was tricky to get it out because it was a bit scared.
'It was just so unexpected. I had seen this fox once before and it is so brazen it walks around in the middle of the road,' said Mrs Ward.
Mrs Ward's husband Kevin snapped this fox - who may be the culprit - prowling outside their home in December
'Not really a significant threat': David North, head of people and wildlife at Norfolk Wildlife Trust, said fox attacks were very rare (file picture)
'My husband has seen this one before and took a photo of it when it was standing in the road, bold as brass, staring him down.
'Because my children sleep in the cots during the day, if it had taken a different turning and had found the other children sleeping I don't know what it might have done.
'I am so grateful it went past Scarlett. Scarlett was fine, and I don't think she even noticed, but I could not see her. The first I knew about it was when it bounced off the oven behind me.
'I don't want to be shut up in my house forever as a result of this, and luckily it is very unusual. My garage door was open so the fox had a clear path through the house. Usually I do not have both doors open.
'It was a very rare chain of events, and I just can't believe it really. You think your children are safe in your own garden, but this thing came through at such a pace, and that was what alarmed me.
'It was running at full pelt. That just added to my panic.'
Mr Cooper said: 'I was just outside cleaning my pick-up truck when Deborah came running out with the baby. I took the broom out of the garage for protection, but I didn't really need it because it was more frightened of me than I was of it.
'We do have a fox problem in the area, and people can't leave their chickens out in the open because they will be gone. I just did what anyone would do in that situation.
'People should be aware though because some people feed these foxes and they get very tame.'
David North, head of people and wildlife at Norfolk Wildlife Trust, said fox attacks were very rare. But he warned that people should be wary of feeding urban foxes and taming them.
Mr North said: 'Foxes are not really a significant threat. It could be that people make them conditioned to human contact, which can become dangerous.
'But there are thousands of cases of dogs attacking people every year. People should not lose any sleep over this. It is extremely rare for a fox to come inside someone's house.'