UK family threatened after children mauled by fox (Daily Mail)‏
Sent: June 14, 2010 12:19:36 PM
Daily Mail (UK)
Parents of twins mauled by fox gets police guard after web attacks by
animal rights activists
By Neil Sears
14th June 2010
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...-activists.htmlThe family whose babies were savaged by a fox in their cots are being
given police protection over fears of an attack by animal rights
activists.
Nine-month-old twins Lola and Isabella Koupparis were taken to
hospital with 'life- changing' injuries that left them looking like
'something out of a horror movie' after a fox crept through patio
doors left open nine days ago.
Isabella has only just been taken out of intensive care and is likely
to be in hospital for at least another week, while Lola was allowed
home on Friday, with facial scars and a bandaged arm.
Police who arrived at the Koupparis family's £800,000 three- storey
Victorian terrace within minutes photographed a fox skulking on the
patio, and East London's Hackney council has since trapped and killed
four foxes in the garden.
No officials have suggested there is anything questionable about
Pauline Koupparis's graphic account of hearing her daughters' screams,
before finding a fox in their room.
But internet gossips have since made wild allegations about the
incident, claiming there is no evidence that a fox was involved.
Some, writing on a website called Urban Fox Defender, suggest the case
is being used as propaganda in the campaign to bring back foxhunting,
which was banned under the Labour government.
Mrs Koupparis, a fashion designer and former senior executive with
British Home Stores, says she will campaign to help protect infants
from foxes. There is no evidence to suggest she has any links to
hunting.
At the weekend, a Scotland Yard spokesman said it was not aware of any
specific threats against the Koupparis family but there was 'concern'
about internet aggression.
A police source said: 'We are aware that there is a potential threat',
and an officer has been assigned to guard the family's home.