A fight between two of London’s resident vermin, a rat and a fox, broke out yesterday in the west of the city – and a bystander caught the grapple on camera.

In a video posted by account UB1UB2 on X, formerly known as Twitter, a curious looking fox can be seen trotting alongside a rat before the smaller rodent appeared to leap into the air to attack its rival.

The fox reacted with shock, nudging backwards from the emboldened animal flying towards it. 

The rat then scuttled off down the road, perhaps realising it had bitten off more than it could chew. The much larger fox than followed its opponent and the two exchanged feisty blows.

The rat leapt up onto the fox who reluctantly attempted to bite back, seemingly more curious than threatened. 

A fight between two of London’s resident rodents, a rat and a fox, broke out yesterday in the south of the city as a bystander caught the grapple on camera

The stunned videographer said aloud: ‘What are we watching, wow!’ 

The incident even halted traffic for a moment when an oncoming Lime bike was forced to come to a stop in the road to avoid the scuffle.

However, it’s not clear who took the winning title in the match as the clip cut off while the two were embroiled in action.

Social media posters were wowed by the battle footage – which has racked up more than 989,300 views on X.

‘Anyone else intrigued to see how this ended,’ one questioned.

‘Nature in a concrete jungle,’ another added.

A third quipped: ‘The fox could never look his mates in the face again.’

One comment also jokingly called the video ‘London Geographic’.

A rat brazenly launched itself at a passing fox in a bizarre fight caught on camera on a street in London

The rat was initially chased by the fox before it decided to take matters into it’s own hands and threw punches itself

Social media posters were wowed by the battle footage – which has racked up more than 989,300 views on X  

The vermin duel comes amid concerns of both rats and foxes overwhelming the city – after a number of reports have shown the number of both has grown significantly.

In particular, foxes have been accused of turning up in places they shouldn’t such as on public buses and in relaxing in people’s garden furniture.

According to the London Wildlife Trust there are an estimated 10,000 urban foxes in London. 

Meanwhile, the population of rats in Britain has been on the rise in recent months, in particular, there have been a number of reports of giant rats being found nestling in bins.

The British Pest Control Association (BPCA) said it has seen a 115 per cent increase in people seeking advice on controlling rats during the last three months of the year.

London-based pest controller Paul Bates, of Cleankill, told The Mirror that since the pandemic, his rat infestation call-outs have been steadily increasing.

He said: ‘2022 was 6% up on 2021 and last year was 3% up on that. Since December I have 235 calls for rats, which is a lot compared to normal. Since the coronavirus pandemic, the problem has been getting worse.

‘There’s a few reasons for this in my opinion, from the reductions in waste collection and poor drainage and sewer maintenance to urban foxes learning to flip open food waste bins and leaving vegetables all over the pavement which is essentially creating a restaurant for rats.