'Leather fetish' thieving foxes plaguing city

A support group set up for victims of "fox shoe thefts" aims to reunite hundreds of owners with their missing footwear.

Arvind Howarth created BS5 Fox Booty on Facebook in 2021 after one of her trainers was "knapped" by a fox from her garden in Bristol.

Since then the group has attracted more than 350 members and scores of images have been posted of shoes, toys and pairs of jeans pilfered by foxes in a bid to find their rightful owners.

Arvind, said: "We've had two success stories - both toys - which I have to say felt amazing. [But] one of the pitfalls of the plan is that by the time we find [the stolen items], they're very much the worse for wear."

Mike Dilger, naturalist and wildlife presenter, explained why foxes with with their "kleptomaniac tendencies" tend to pick shoes. From filming the animals across Bristol, Dilger said the animals display "quite the leather fetish".

"Being a member of the dog family, foxes are naturally both inquisitive and playful, and it's probably their smelly and chewable nature that makes leather so appealing," he said.

According to a 2017 study carried out by Brighton and Reading universities, Bristol has one of the highest concentrations of urban foxes in the UK.

Arvind said the "light-fingered gingers" are not only "very prolific" across the city but have taken up residence in thousands of back gardens in BS5.

"They do a lot of thievery," she said.

Arvind said while she had found "several shoes", it was only after becoming the victim of a fox with a "fetish for shoes" herself that she realised the extent of the problem.

She later set up the support group after seeing various missing shoe posts on Facebook and often seeing "odd shoes lying around in the street".

"I thought, wouldn't it be great if we could reunite people with their missing footwear," she added.

And it is not just shoes.

For Katy Spencer, in Easton, the family of foxes living next door have "gifted" her a whole collection of jeans.

"They would gradually start leaving things in the garden overnight," she said.

She said while she had never seen a fox "carrying clothes", she thought they may have come from neighbouring washing lines.

"We don't leave our washing out overnight anymore," she said.

Residents have been advised by Bristol City Council not to leave "any objects" out in gardens overnight.

Arvind, meanwhile, was optimistic that they will reunite a shoe "with its other half".

"[Foxes] clearly love them, chewing them up and throwing them around and burying them," she said.

"Definitely the hope is we can start returning them before they get too chewed up," she added.

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