Mr Fox gets more than he bargained for after brush with Woodford Green shopper

by Amanda Nunn Wednesday, September 19, 2012
1:27 PM

A father of two got much more than he bargained for after going into Tesco to buy his lunch and instead getting bitten by a fox.

Lee Cooper, 37, went to the Tesco Express store in High Road, Woodford Green, earlier this month and was met by a scene of panic with a fox jumping around the shelves in the store.

Mr Cooper managed to restrain the fox, grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and escorted it from the premises to a nearby bush.

He said: “I’d gone into the store, there were more than 10 people running around panicking as there was a fox. “It was jumping into the fruit and veg and the butter shelves.”

Mr Cooper, of High Road, Woodford Green, said that as he had grown up with animals he was not scared of the animal and offered to remove it from the shop.

He claims he was offered £50 in Tesco credit to remove the fox.

“It was the first time I had handled one, I put it my foot on it to and some girl asked what I was doing. I told her ‘it’s not a dog, it’s more like a rat, I was shopping and eating until this happened’.”

The first time he picked up the fox he held it too gently and the fox turned around and bit him on his hands which meant he needed antibiotics and a tetanus vaccination.

“I took it out of the store and round the corner letting it go in a bush,” he said.

“I did feel a bit sorry for it, I should have got it a can of cat or dog food to give it.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “The safety of our staff and customers is extremely important to us.

“To that end we would never agree to a customer putting themselves in harm’s way, and under no circumstances would we agree to give a customer money or goods to do so.”