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Google PlayA fox who later tested positive for rabies was seen on video wandering up to a woman before viciously attacking her in her front yard in Upstate New York.
The woman, who was talking to someone on the phone when the fox approached her, was seen on the video kicking and fending off the deranged animal as it latched onto her leg and then onto her chest. A man, later identified as the victim’s neighbor, is seen running up with a stick and is able to scare off the fox. Ed Russo, a meteorologist at CBS Harrisburg affiliate WHP-TV, shared the video on social media before ultimately removing it. He identified the woman in the video as his cousin and said the attack occurred on July 25.
“A cousin of mine was attacked by a rabid fox in Ithaca, NY,” he tweeted on Tuesday. “She’s OK. But geez this video is crazy!”
The video was also uploaded by the woman’s husband Paul Russo, who said he wanted it to be “educational.”
“My wife was attacked by a rabid fox this past July,” he wrote in the since-deleted post. “Our friend edited the security camera footage and made this educational video for us to post to alert everyone that this can happen to anyone.”
Russo said in another since-deleted post on Facebook that the fox later tested positive for rabies and was euthanized at the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell University. He said his cousin “sought medical attention immediately” after the attack and was “treated appropriately.” He added that his cousin “did everything right.”
Graphic pictures from the attack were obtained by TMZ and show the woman’s hand and side all bloodied and maimed. Russo said the fox was captured after nearly attacking someone else.
Foxes are some of the most common animals to be infected with rabies in the United States. The CDC noted in a report in 2018 that foxes with rabies were found in Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. However, this surprisingly isn’t the first rabid fox to have been reported in Ithaca. In 2018, a fox that bit multiple people and pets near the Ithaca College campus also tested positive for rabies, as reported by the Ithaca Voice.
