Urban foxes are useful for getting rid of vermin and would not attack children, says BBC filmmaker When presenter Susanna Reid pointed out that rabbits were more likely to be considered pets than vermin in an urban environment, the filmmaker admitted, "They can take out rats." Mr Dean also played down the risk the creatures pose to humans. Asked about reports of foxes attacking children, he told the breakfast programme: "I think they are scared of humans. I don't really think they'd come into a house and attack a child. It seems very much against their nature from what I've seen over the last five months. If you talk to someone who supports the fox they'll say they're the same as they always have been, it's just people's perceptions of them that are shifting. He added that he had come across many people who enjoyed feeding and watching urban foxes as he was researching the documentary. In the course of the film we visited a cul-de-sac where there's neighbours that all live opposite each other and these foxes just go from house to house to house like a three course dinner, just enjoying the food. He said the neighbours put out dog and cat food and then would sit "watching them from the curtains and enjoying them playing and growing up." Susanna Reid agreed that "a little baby fox is a sweet thing to look at." The comments are bound to rile those who have seen gardens damaged by foxes or been kept awake by their cries, such as Janet from Newport, South Wales, who appears in the documentary film. "I'd like to stick 20,000 volts through them," she says, having decided to wait up at night with a curtain pole to hit the animals damaging her lawn. It's a war. Never cross a Welsh woman who's at the end of her tether. And Cass Barratt, who owns the pest-control company London Fox Control, questioned Mr Dean's claims. "I don't think they have much of an impact on vermin," Mr Barratt told The Telegraph. As to whether they attack humans, there's documented evidence that they have. The clients we work with have seen a fair amount of foxes coming through cat flaps. There are videos on Youtube of foxes getting in through windows. In my opinion it's irresponsible whether you regard them as pests or not. The more you encourage them to interact with humans the more chance there is of them being a problem later on. Fox Wars in on BBC One at 10.35pm on Tuesday