Brazen foxes have little shame using school playing fields as a toilet, residents have complained, as the council claimed nothing more could be done to deter them.

Pam Rostron, a mother of two children who attend Wimbledon Chase Primary School, said staff were spending too much on clearing up fox droppings and more needed to be done to deter them from coming near children.

She said: “It seems pretty ridiculous when you have got foxes on the fields when kids are in school.

“There are companies that release them into the wild, or apparently lion dung can be used to deter them.

"I know the law protects them but we need to think of something.”

The school’s headteacher, Sue Tomes, declined to comment but her colleague confirmed she was aware of the problem and the school doing everything they could to keep the grounds clear of fox mess.

Councillor Chris Edge, a governor at the school, said the law should be changed to reclassify foxes as vermin and allow local authorities to take stronger action against them.

Coun Edge said: “We can’t shoot foxes in Merton otherwise the fox hunting lobby will come down on us like a ton of bricks, but residents are right that more needs to be done.”

But Merton Council’s cabinet member for environmental sustainability, Councillor Andrew Judge, said trapping or killing foxes was ineffective and cruel.

He said: “Foxes are attracted by food waste so to deter them, we advise people to ensure any rubbish waiting for collection is properly contained.

“We will be rolling out the final stage of our food waste programme later this year which provides residents with lockable plastic food waste bins for the outside of their properties which means there is less food waste around to attract the foxes.”

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