A TWEEDBANK mum claims that two foxes are ‘terrorising’ her street – after finding one in her home.

Joanne Cleghorn, who lives on Cotgreen Road, told the Border Telegraph how she woke during the night to discover a fox in her living room.

She said: “I had a full house that night and it’s not the first time I’ve seen it.

“I’d been cooking steak earlier and had left the window open a little more than usual.

“I had my three kids, my partner, plus an 81-year-old, six dogs and three cats in the house with me, yet it was the old cat who alerted me.

“I woke up to hear my cat making a growling noise.

“I ran downstairs as soon as I heard the vase on the kitchen window [sill] fall, and when I switched on the light I saw it.

“The fox stood still for a few seconds, stared at me, and then jumped back out of the window and ran towards the house to the right.”

The mother-of-three said a male and female fox have also been spotted by others in the street and are causing a stink among locals.

“It was seen during the day by the two social workers that deal with the 81-year-old I look after, and my five-year-old has also seen it.

“I noticed one fox at 3am one morning while talking to a friend on the phone, it was going to the toilet on the road which alerted me as I thought it was a dog.

“I looked out of the window to see if the owner was around to pick up the dirt, but soon realised it was a fox.

“They aren’t just coming out at night. I’ve also talked to my neighbours to find out if they have spotted them, and quite a few have seen them on our street. One friend noticed it pooing in her garden.”

Since the fox entered her home, Joanne wants to warn others in Tweedbank and across the Borders to be careful leaving windows open during the warmer weather.

She added: “I’ve heard that foxes can maul babies as well as other animals so I just want to make people aware that two have been spotted in Tweedbank.”

In February, a seven-month-old baby was attacked by a fox while in her bouncer at home in Devon. And back in July 2010, two nine-month-old twins were mauled by a fox as they slept in their cots in East London, both girls suffered arm injuries.

Advice from the RSCPA states: “If you regularly see foxes in your garden, they have probably already found a good food supply in the area and foxes are excellent scavengers.

“If you decide to provide food for foxes it’s important to bear in mind that whilst you like to see foxes, your neighbours may not share the same view and may see foxes as a problem, which could result in action taken against the animals.

“As a result we would always recommend caution when feeding foxes.

“Don’t try to make them tame, never hand-feed them or put out too much food as foxes may not move far if all the food they need is available in one garden – they may bury some, defecate or cause other problems in neighbouring gardens leading to ill-feeling against the foxes.”