Detectives Are Appealing For Information After Foxes Set On Fire
Date of alert:
Monday, 6 March 2023
Crime Ref:
Force:
Metropolitan Police Service
Police were called by an animal rescue group on Monday, 27 February in relation to a fox being set on fire in a wooded area near Kestrel Avenue and Linton Gardens, E6.
The group was contacted by a member of public who was awoken at about 1am on Monday, 27 February by the sounds of screaming.
They initially thought it was a human making the distressed sounds, but upon inspection, they saw a group of men pouring what is believed to be lighter fluid over a fox and setting it on fire with a lighter. The fox managed to escape but was badly burnt. The extent of its injuries, or if it survived, remains unknown.
Enquiries have established that the group regularly go to the area in the early hours of the morning and has reportedly previously captured and tortured foxes – including starting fires to smoke them out of their dens and setting their dogs on them.
