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Four gunshots end attack by rabid fox
NEWTON GROVE - Elsie West opened her door Sunday and came face to face with a rabid fox.
West said she kept the door slightly cracked and shouted, "You better get from here."
The fox charged at the house and tried to wiggle through the door. West said she used her foot to push it back. In the struggle, the fox took her shoe.
"I wasn't scared," West said Thursday from her home on Mount Olive Highway near Newton Grove. "I put on another pair of shoes and said, 'Let me go back and see if he's gone.'"
West, who declined to give her age, said she grabbed her gun and fired a warning shot from the back door to scare the fox away. She looked around to see whether the fox had fled before stepping outside.
"By the time I came around the corner of the house, he jumped out," West said. "When he did, I went to shoot and hit him every time. He grabbed my leg and was holding on to it a-biting."
West said she grabbed the fox's neck and shot it again. She said she held its neck until it let go of her leg. Altogether, she said, she shot the fox four times before it died.
West called friends for help and was taken to Sampson Regional Medical Center in Clinton. "I said, 'Well, that fox is going too,'" she said.
West took the animal to the emergency room and called Sampson County Animal Control.
Chief Animal Control Officer Tim Bass, who took the report at the hospital, said Thursday that the fox was one of two in the county that had tested positive for rabies. He said the attack on West happened about 11 a.m. Sunday.
Bass took the fox to the State Veterinary Office on Tuesday because the office was closed Monday for the Fourth of July. He said the office confirmed that the fox had the disease.
In June, a rabid fox was found at a home near Clinton. The fox got into a fight with a dog, Bass said. The dog had to be destroyed, he said, because it did not have a history of vaccinations.
So far this year, there have been three cases of rabies in Sampson County. Authorities found a rabid raccoon in the county in April, Bass said. He encouraged pet owners to vaccinate their pets and avoid wild or stray animals.
Last month, residents in a Cumberland County neighborhood said a fox attacked two dogs on Delaware Drive and tried to bite a man on Banbury Drive. At least eight cases of rabies have been confirmed in Cumberland County this year.
West said last weekend was the first time she had seen the fox near her home. She said she could tell immediately that it had rabies. The fox's teeth punctured her left leg.
"The wound is real bad," she said. "It's still bleeding."
She said she feels fine and has been taking a series of shots as part of her treatment against rabies.
Staff writer Amneris Solano can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3521.
NEWTON GROVE - Elsie West opened her door Sunday and came face to face with a rabid fox.
West said she kept the door slightly cracked and shouted, "You better get from here."
The fox charged at the house and tried to wiggle through the door. West said she used her foot to push it back. In the struggle, the fox took her shoe.
"I wasn't scared," West said Thursday from her home on Mount Olive Highway near Newton Grove. "I put on another pair of shoes and said, 'Let me go back and see if he's gone.'"
West, who declined to give her age, said she grabbed her gun and fired a warning shot from the back door to scare the fox away. She looked around to see whether the fox had fled before stepping outside.
"By the time I came around the corner of the house, he jumped out," West said. "When he did, I went to shoot and hit him every time. He grabbed my leg and was holding on to it a-biting."
West said she grabbed the fox's neck and shot it again. She said she held its neck until it let go of her leg. Altogether, she said, she shot the fox four times before it died.
West called friends for help and was taken to Sampson Regional Medical Center in Clinton. "I said, 'Well, that fox is going too,'" she said.
West took the animal to the emergency room and called Sampson County Animal Control.
Chief Animal Control Officer Tim Bass, who took the report at the hospital, said Thursday that the fox was one of two in the county that had tested positive for rabies. He said the attack on West happened about 11 a.m. Sunday.
Bass took the fox to the State Veterinary Office on Tuesday because the office was closed Monday for the Fourth of July. He said the office confirmed that the fox had the disease.
In June, a rabid fox was found at a home near Clinton. The fox got into a fight with a dog, Bass said. The dog had to be destroyed, he said, because it did not have a history of vaccinations.
So far this year, there have been three cases of rabies in Sampson County. Authorities found a rabid raccoon in the county in April, Bass said. He encouraged pet owners to vaccinate their pets and avoid wild or stray animals.
Last month, residents in a Cumberland County neighborhood said a fox attacked two dogs on Delaware Drive and tried to bite a man on Banbury Drive. At least eight cases of rabies have been confirmed in Cumberland County this year.
West said last weekend was the first time she had seen the fox near her home. She said she could tell immediately that it had rabies. The fox's teeth punctured her left leg.
"The wound is real bad," she said. "It's still bleeding."
She said she feels fine and has been taking a series of shots as part of her treatment against rabies.
Staff writer Amneris Solano can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3521.
Better get out the 12 pump.
