Pizza Fox Is Somerset’s Answer to Pizza Rat

First there was pizza rat, defying logic (or not, as the case may be) and hogging Twitter feeds everywhere, by dragging a slice of pizza double its size down the steps of a New York subway station to gorge on in the privacy of his own manhole.

Six months later, a worthy rival has emerged: Jimmy is a pizza-loving fox from Somerset, who has been known to stuff up to four slices in her mouth at once. Take that, pizza rat.

Unlike her rodent-y counterpart, Jimmy doesn't lower herself to scavenging the streets for her supper. The vixen is served pizza twice a week from a rather civilised blue and white enamelware bowl (v on trend) by Yeovil couple Maxine and Tony Hawker.

Well, it's alright for some.

The Hawkers nursed the then-emaciated fox back to health three years ago by mixing medication from the vet into dog food. Since then, they have left dinner out for Jimmy in their garden almost every night.

Speaking to SomersetLive, Maxine explained how Jimmy's diet switched from Purina to pepperoni: "A few months ago, I had the grandchildren around and I had made them a pizza and there was some left over, so I left it out for her. I saw how quickly she took it and she loved it, so now I buy cheap ones for her."

Lucy Jones, wildlife journalist and author of Foxes Unearthed, told MUNCHIES that it's not unusual for foxes to succumb to the allure of a good slice.

She said: "Foxes are some of the least fussy creatures out there so it's not a surprise this one's been hitting the pizza. The animals have wide and varied tastes and that's one of the reasons why they're so successful and widespread. A fox I heard about while researching Foxes Unearthed is especially keen on Marmite sandwiches—another on crisps."

And what of Jimmy's waistline? Jones assured us that a pizza-heavy diet isn't necessarily a bad thing for the health-conscious fox. She added: "The most important thing is that if people are feeding foxes, they do it at a distance—don't feed foxes by hand or in the house. And pizza every day might sound a bit unhealthy but Jimmy the vixen will be perfectly capable of finding some five-a-day fruit or protein-rich beetles for afters."

After all, we're always being told to have a balanced diet, right?