Rabid Fox Attack: Elderly Woman Bitten And Trapped In House By Unruly Varmint

In a scene appropriate for When Animals Attack, or possibly the Twilight Zone, a 78-year-old New Mexico woman was attacked by a rabid gray fox, the violent and out of control critter biting the woman and continuing to pursue her even after she’d barricaded herself in a house.

The fox attack on the woman included two bites by the rabid varmint, the woman being chased into the house, and the unrelenting fox continuing to get at the woman by trying to gnaw through the door, reports the Rudioso News.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s office responded to reports of the fox attack around 3:30, Monday afternoon. Sheriff Deputies Robert Shepperd and Phillip Wall arrived at the house with the fox attack still in mid-action. Then, along with the fox attack from When Animals Attack and the Twilight Zone, it also started to resemble a scenario featuring a smaller version of Cujo, as the rabid fox left its efforts to get the lady and charged the deputies.

But the rabid fox’s violent campaign against the humans was thwarted by the steadfast deputies.

While Deputy Shepperd didn’t want to try to shoot the rabid fox because the fracas was taking place in a residential area, Deputy Wall inexplicably, and fortunately, stumbled upon a big discarded fishing net that just happened to be laying in the road.

The rabid fox soon found out that he was out of his league against the deputies. Shepperd and Wall captured the fox with the net and a “catch pole.”

While the fox had instigated the whole scene and was the attacker, signs that it was rabid also meant the creature was likely suffering the pains and misery of the condition, which was also likely responsible for the fox’s uncharacteristically aggressive and violent behavior.

Fortunately upon first hearing of the fox attack, Deputy Shepperd got in touch with a Fish and Game official who accompanied Shepperd to the house and was able to put the rabid fox out of its misery after it was captured.

The fox was later tested for rabies by local wildlife officials, according to WPXI News, the results confirming that the fox was indeed rabid.

The female fox attack victim also reportedly has a loving husband that took his wounded spouse to the hospital. The fox bites to her legs were treated and a series of rabies shots administered.

According to the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, there was a severe gray fox rabies outbreak from 2007-2010, but this is the first rabid fox identified this year.

[Image via The Lakewood Scoop]