After Eventful Thursday, Rabid Fox A No-Show Friday

[Update Sat., Nov. 16, 10 a.m.: Police report there have been no confirmed sightings of the fox since 5:30 p.m. Thursday night. Frenchtown Park will remain closed for now.]

Linda Wegrzyn was heading south on Arrowhead Trail Thursday, nearing the intersection with Tillinghast Drive, when she saw the fox, and two teenage girls walking walking away from it. Suddenly the fox was chasing the girls and caught one of them, biting her pant leg.

Wegrzyn, who lives on Squirrel Lane, had heard there was a rabid fox in the neighborhood. She yelled to the girls to get in her car. The girl who was attacked was able to shake the fox off her and both girls scrambled to the car.

“I see the fox chasing one of the girls,” said Wegrzyn. “He had bit her sneaker. She pulled him off her leg twice. The fox was near the waterwheel.”

She called the fox “mangy looking.”

Animal Control Officer Renee Young said the first call about the fox came in Thursday around 12:30 p.m. The fox had been seen near a house on Frenchtown Road at High Hawk.

“There’s a hen house there. From what witnesses have said, the fox went next door and there was another dog, an older dog. There was no wound on the dog but there was blood on the dog and we think it came from the fox,” said Young. “Then it went to the backyard of this house on High Hawk. There was a worker there and it grabbed this worker’s pants.”

Over on Arbor Way, a woman was bit by the fox in front of her middle school daughter. She was taken by rescue to the hospital but was home Friday.

On Friday morning, Howard London, who also lives on Arbor Way, was out in front of his house, collecting leaves.

“I haven’t seen anything,” he said. “I hope they get it because there are a lot of little kids in the neighborhood. In fact, my wife didn’t even want me to work outside today but I think I can protect myself,” he said with a laugh. “But, you never know!”

"People have dogs and they do have to go out," she said. "Until we’re sure, I wouldn’t be walking my dog down the block. It is that aggressive. Walk it in your yard, for now. It’s only going to be a couple of days, if that."

Young encouraged everyone to make sure their pets are vaccinated against rabies. Even if they weren't vaccinated before, Young urged owners to get their pets vaccinated this weekend.