Images of a fox sliding into a Brussels home in broad daylight before making off with a handbag have left Brussels residents "astounded."
Last week, Brussels resident Pierre Alexis captured footage of the moment in which a little fox can be seen sliding into a partly-open garage door in the southern municipality of Forest in broad daylight.
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Moments after sneaking in, the fox emerges carrying what appears to be a black fabric bag in his mouth and prances away down the road.
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"What a rascal that fox! In the middle of town, he stole a bag from a garage," Alexis wrote, adding that he had chased after the animal and managed to return the bag to its owner.
Uploaded to Facebook, the footage has been shared dozens of times as users expressed bewilderment at the animal's feat and the visible ease with which he moved past passers-by and cars parked near Place Constantin Meunier in Forest.
"He is absolutely not scared of humans, astounding," one commenter wrote, while another remarked on the fact that the fox "didn't look wild in the slightest."
Responding to concerns that the animal could carry diseases, like rabies, Alexis said he had alerted federal public health institute Sciensano of the sighting, who he said told him rabies had not been detected in foxes since 2001.
After recovering the bag from near the fox's lair, Alexis said that the bag's owner was more amused than surprised at hearing about the incident.
"They were not completely surprised, because they had seen the fox several times, so they laughed about it," he told VRT, adding: "I just wonder why the fox took the handbag since there was no food in it."
Gabriela Galindo
The Brussels Times
