Attacks come one week after two people potentially exposed to rabies from rabid fox in Erieville
By Jason Emerson
editor
An apparently rabid fox attacked two people on East Lake Road in Cazenovia Tuesday afternoon, after which the animal was killed and disposed of. Neither of the people was bitten or injured, although both the truck one was driving and the riding lawnmower another was operating were damaged from the fox’s attacks.
“That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through,” said Chris Smith, who lives at 4896 East Lake Road. “If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Cujo,’ it was like that. The thing just kept coming back.”
Rabies is a viral disease affecting the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). It is transmitted from infected mammals to humans and is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.
Smith was mowing her lawn Tuesday at around noon when her friend came over to deliver bales of hay. On his way out of her driveway, he stopped his truck to look out his window at something in the grass. Smith, wearing flip flops, drove her riding mower over to see what her friend was observing when she saw it was a fox.
The animal then attacked the truck, biting into the tires and even into the body; then it turned and attacked the lawn mower tires and wheel cover, Smith said. Her friend threw a rock at the fox, it retreated and the friend went to get his gun. The fox then came back and charged at Smith’s friend, who kicked it and stunned it. The fox ran away again, then came back a third time, when Smith’s friend shot and killed it.
“This was like something you read about,” Smith said. “I’ve never seen anything like it: charging at you, mouth wide open, biting anything it could reach.”
Smith eventually talked to someone at the Madison County Department of Health, who told her how to dispose of the dead fox properly, which is to either bury it deep enough in the ground where no other animals will dig it up, or, if the animal is small enough, double bag it and put it in the trash. Never touch the dead animal with bare hands and wash your hands thoroughly after handling, according to the MCHD.
The fox that attacked Smith and her friend was not tested by the county health department for rabies.
This is the second reported rabies incident in the Cazenovia area within one week. During the week of June 6, a fox tested positive for rabies in Erieville and two people were potentially exposed. The animal was destroyed and it was recommended that the individuals receive post-exposure prophylactic treatment, said Aaron Lazzara, assistant director of environmental health at the Madison County Department of Health.
Rabies treatments include four vaccinations shots within a 14-day period.
“Rabies is endemic in New York state, so it’s here,” Lazzara said. “If you’re careful, [exposure] shouldn’t be an issue.”
According to MCDH information posted online, in wild animals, rabies is most often seen in raccoons, skunks, foxes and bats. People can get rabies if they are exposed to the saliva or nervous tissue of a rabid animal through a bite or scratch.
“Seeing a fox in the middle of the day in your yard is not normal; they don’t like to be around people,” Lazzara said. He said if a wild animal is acting oddly the best thing to do is to get your family members and your pets inside, call your neighbors to warn them about it and call the department of health at 366-2526. Tell-tale signs of rabies include the animal acting hyper-aggressive or in a drunken state or stupor.
Once rabies symptoms come out in an animal, the animal usually will die in three to five days, Lazzara said.
“We always stress that bats are a big issue,” Lazzara said. “‘Catch the bat’ is our motto.” Most of the post-rabies exposure treatments that occur in Madison County are due to potential exposure to rabies from bats, he said. This is because bats have such small teeth that people cannot really tell if they have been bitten if they find a bat in their house or bedroom. “Don’t let it go; catch it and we can at least then test it to check for rabies,” he said.
Family pets have a higher risk of coming into contact with wild animals that may have rabies than humans do, and when rabies from wild animals “spills over” into domestic animals, the risk to people is increased because of their close contact with pets.
According to MCDH, all cats, dogs and ferrets should be vaccinated against rabies starting at three months of age and again one year later. Pet vaccination is important because vaccinated pets act as a barrier between wild animals and people to keep the rabies virus from spreading.
For more information about rabies, visit the Madison County Department of Health website rabies page at http://www.healthymadisoncounty.org/healthinfo/topicsa-z/topic-rabies.htm.
To report a potentially rabid animal or possible exposure to rabies, call the county health department at 315-366-2526. Department officers are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
