Two people in North Carolina are lucky to be alive after being attacked by a rabid fox. One of the people mistook the animal for an injured cat, getting the fright of the lifetime.
Both were bitten and needed medical treatment, according to the Moore County Sheriff's Office in a news release. The incident happened on Tuesday in Aberdeen.
Jordan Burns, one of the two victims, mistook the rabid fox for an injured cat. She left her home to investigate the noise. That's when the fox attacked her and wouldn't let go. Aberdeen Police Capt. Chris Davis said the rabid fox bit the woman on the side of her leg.
"Every time I would get it off of me, it would latch on somewhere else," Burns recalled. "And then it became clear to me I was going to have to do something. It was going to be me or the fox."
Eventually, she was able to grab the animal by its muzzle. She got the fox off her leg "but then it bit her hand after that."
Rabid Fox Attacks
Besides Burns, the animal also bit an unidentified 77-year-old man on the leg as well. Both people ended up going to the hospital where they were treated for rabies. The sheriff's office later confirmed the fox tested positive for rabies. It's a fear that Burns suspected.
"I'm very sore and shaken up, as you can imagine," Burns said. "It was just such a bizarre thing. You know, I never expected it would be a fox that would bite me."
"The whole reason we're doing this outreach investigation is because we can't rule out rabies with 100% confidence," Curren said. "We are reaching out to people to assess them individually under the sort of governing principle that rabies would be the worst-case scenario."
"I think it's impossible to basically prevent something like this from ever happening again," Curren alo said. "You're talking about a national park where bats are wild animals and are allowed to do their normal wild animal thing. But we're working with the park so that they feel like they've got a better way to help mitigate stuff like this from happening in the future, and communicating to guests potentially more comprehensively going forward."
