The fowl incident occurred in a small village outside Sundsvall, northern Sweden, when the crafty fox fancied a midnight snack. However, the hungry animal got a fright when the 75-year-old chicken coop owner intervened.
“I wasn’t scared, I didn’t feel anything, but my heart was pounding for an hour afterwards,” she told The Local.
Meinking has owned her five hens for less than two months and was prepared to defend them against all predators. The animal lover was alerted to the intruder when her cats reacted to strange noises coming from outside.
After stepping outside into the pitch dark the pensioner headed for the hen-house to find the fox in search of his latest meal.
“He ran between my legs, and I said, ‘Now I’m going to get that thing,” Ingrid Meinking told The Local.
“He didn’t have time to think! I squeezed my legs together and grabbed him.”
It was only then that the quick-acting pensioner realized the furry tail she’d grabbed belonged to a fox.
“He tried to nip at my hand but he couldn’t because I was swinging him by the tail in the air,” she recalled.
From there Meinking battled with the fox before dragging him to her home’s stone steps where he met his fate.
“I grabbed him, threw him around twice and then slammed him against the stone stairs. Then he was dead,” Meinking told the local Sundsvall Tidning newspaper, which first reported the incident.
Meinking added that her hensational story didn’t leave any lasting effects on her chickens. Although one did suffer a slight wound, all the hens survived and were able to lay their eggs in the morning.
When another fox came the following night, Meinking was ready.
“I stood outside and guarded,” she told The Local.
“My hens can rely on me.”
The pensioner said she considered keeping the fox as a trophy but decided to bury it in the woods instead.
She is also thankful the intruder didn’t turn out to be a bear, which are also plentiful in the area.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” she said.
“I didn’t think, I was just angry at him. I had been screaming at him when I came out but he didn’t leave.”
Meinking added that she doesn’t view herself as any sort of brave Viking woman.
“I think anyone could have done it. It was the dumb fox who didn’t run away,” she told The Local
It isn’t the first time a Scandinavian fox has made the headlines recently. Norway’s Ylvisåker brothers have appeared on US television performing their hit song ‘What does the fox say?’ which has attracted over 100 million views on YouTube.
The Local/pr/sr
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