Foxes are unexpected visitors at Google’s new U.K. headquarters

LONDON — Google’s much-hyped new U.K. headquarters in London’s King’s Cross neighborhood hasn’t opened yet, but it’s already drawn some unexpected attention from locals.

Local foxes, that is.

The building, which is under construction, has been nicknamed the “landscraper” because it spans 1,082 feet wide and 11 floors tall.

Created by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, it will reportedly be completed later this year and cost the tech giant upwards of £1 billion ($1.3 billion). Construction began in 2017. It is anticipated to eventually house up to 7,000 Google employees.

For now, however, some of the more frequent visitors might be the foxes that have been digging burrows in the manicured grounds and leaving their droppings behind on the building’s nearly 1,000-foot-long rooftop garden.

“Fox sightings at construction sites are pretty common, and our King’s Cross development is no exception,” a Google spokesperson told NBC News. But, the person added, “While foxes have been occasionally spotted at the site, their appearances have been brief and have had minimal impact on the ongoing construction.”

NBC News spoke to nearly two dozen construction workers at the construction site, where a cacophony of noise from the drilling and hammering filled the streets as dust dispersed into the air. But when asked whether they had seen any foxes, most refused to comment, citing nondisclosure agreements.

One worker, who requested anonymity due to the NDA, told NBC News, “Personally, I haven’t seen one, but there are so many open entrances to the building I wouldn’t be surprised if it had gotten inside.”

Still, Kareen Mascerenhas, 25, who works at a store directly across from the construction site, said she had spotted a fox last winter. “I was shutting the store when I saw one just run past that side and in there,” she said, pointing to Google’s construction.

But any sightings of the bushy-tailed vulpines feel neither rare nor unique in a city where the number of foxes soars between 10,000 and 15,000, accounting for nearly 16 foxes per square mile.

Around the country, their population ebbs and flows depending on the season, from 150,000 in the winter to around 400,000 during cub season, according to Terry Woods, who founded the fox removal company Fox-a-Gon, which advocates for the humane treatment of the animals.

For decades, foxes have also captured the British imagination, appearing as the sly character Mr. Tod in Beatrix Potter’s novels, and in Roald Dahl’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” And most recently, one even served as a memorable symbol for the “hot priest” in the hit television show “Fleabag” by Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Though they are often seen boldly trotting along sidewalks and rummaging through residential bins, foxes have also roused strong reactions from onlookers, ranging from adoration to outright resentment.

“They may appear cuddly and romantic, but foxes are also a pest and a menace, particularly in our cities,” former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told BBC News in 2013, then as the mayor of London, when a fox horrified the British public after biting off a baby’s finger.

For years, foxes perfectly concealed their identity as the main culprits behind hundreds of cat mutilations in the south London suburb of Croydon, where the grisly carcasses strewn across streets and backyards led distressed residents to suspect that a deranged cat killer was on the loose until police realized what was happening in 2018.

While some residents cherish their presence, hoping to charm the typically contact-averse creatures by trying to feed them, a series of British wildlife laws also gives foxes the protection and freedom to roam the United Kingdom’s cities endlessly.

“Foxes are quite popular around this area; they are just virtually everywhere,” said 31-year-old Ode Tomitoba, who works at the King’s Cross Visitors Center.

For Hanei Mokenen, 23, who manages a restaurant in King’s Cross, news of the latest fox incursion came by way of a TikTok video.

“It’s King’s Cross, anything can happen here,” he said about the bustling commercial neighborhood in Central London, adding that he had occasionally seen a fox running around the area.

But their stealth around the giant Google edifice had nonetheless taken Mokenen by surprise. “How the hell did they get inside? Security is strong in this area; it’s not a place where you can just walk around,” he said.

The foxes’ newfound home at Google’s offices isn’t the first time the animals have made themselves comfortable in London’s skyscrapers. In 2011, a fox called Romeo was discovered living in The Shard, surviving on the food scraps left by construction workers.

“It is a fairly common occurrence with the creatures being so adaptable,” said Woods from Fox-a-Gon, who helped remove Romeo from the site by capturing him safely and releasing him back into the urban jungle.

“They are such an adaptable animal that they can survive almost anywhere and overcome great hardships,” he added.