Foxes may have a reputation among some people for attacking defenceless pets as they hunt for food in increasing numbers in our towns and cities.

But, in fact, the food they love to eat is cheese.

They also enjoy peanuts, rice pudding and grapes as well as cat and dog food.

While some people see them as canny scavengers who cause a nuisance, a growing number of people are beginning to feed foxes when they visit their gardens.

They are putting out food at night to help the foxes survive, but also to attract them so they can watch the red-coated creatures up close.

Roger Musselle, who runs a wildlife rescue centre, said: “We feed birds and hedgehogs in the garden so what is different about feeding foxes?”

Roger, who lives in Woodingdean, Brighton, says an increasing number of people are putting out food especially for foxes.

He said: “I feed them myself. They are coming to our gardens because we are building everywhere.

“If you have a garden you have a piece of countryside. It is up to us to help our wildlife because it is under threat.”

Would you encourage foxes?

Roger says a growing number of people are contacting his centre to ask for advice on feeding foxes.

He believes this is because more people living in towns and cities have become interested in wildlife conservation during the past 20 years.

He added: “If you get a fox in your garden and you are keen on wildlife you are automatically going to start putting food out to try to encourage it.

"People want to watch the foxes as they sit in their window.”

Roger stresses that foxes are capable of looking after themselves and don’t need humans to feed them.

But he sees nothing wrong with people putting out food to help them out.

He said: “You don’t need to feed them any more than birds.

“They will survive on what they can find but the extra food in all these gardenswill help their chances.”

Hundreds of foxes in city

Foxes started moving into towns and cities after the First World War due to the change in our lifestyles, when people began living in new suburbs and rural foxes learnt to take advantage of leftover food.

Brighton and Hove is home to hundreds of foxes and Roger estimates there are about 200 living in Woodingdean alone.

Although there are more sightings, he says the population is not dramatically increasing.

Instead, foxes have been living among us for so long they have become more comfortable around us.

Unlike their country cousins, urban foxes seem to understand they have nothing to fear from humans.

They appear relaxed as their saunter along our streets at night and, although they are nocturnal creatures, they are regularly spotted in parks and cemeteries during the day as well as basking in the sun along railway lines.

Roger, who has been interested in foxes since he was a teenager 50 years ago, developed a special relationship with a rescue fox called Softie in the early 1990s.

After being released, she returned to visit him and his wife Fleur for seven years and would even sleep on their bed.

He said: “They never forget who looks after them.”

Wild animals

But they still have a reputation for attacks on small pets, including rabbits, guinea pigs and kittens.

Earlier this year, The Argus reported how desperate urban foxes were killing family pets in Worthing because new wheelie bins meant they could no longer scavenge for food.

Sylvia Brown, 73, blamed foxes for killing 13 chickens and two rabbits.

She said: “They need some sort of control measure and I wish people would stop feeding them.

“Despite what people say they are wanton killers.”

But Roger says foxes have an unfair reputation and maintains they will not attack domestic dogs and cats.

He said: “I have dealt with foxes for more than 50 years and the only animosity I have seen is from cats, who chase the foxes away.

"They are Brighton wildlife and I don’t recognise the word vermin.”

He says foxes are friendly creatures but he is concerned some might be tempted to believe they could be kept as pets.

He was concerned about a recent report of a man in Southwick who was said to have paid a vet to operate to remove a fox’s smell glands and to spay the animal.

He said: “They are wild animals– they will wreck the house and make it smell.”

As well as callers wanting advice on feeding, Roger is also asked how to keep foxes away from gardens.

He said: “I try to show people they are not a danger and there is no need to get rid of them.”