LEICESTER, Mass. — Police and animal control believe they have caught the possibly rabid fox that bit two people in Leicester.
Police said the attacks happened Thursday in the Rt. 56 area off King Street. Kathleen Fitzgibbons was washing her windows when the fox came up and bit her on the leg. Twenty minutes later, a man walking nearby was bit by a fox.
The man who was bitten, Dennis Cooney, told FOX25's Malini Basu that the fox starting biting his boot.
"He was six or seven feet from me, growling...he attacked me, and I kicked him in the head. He spun over a few times," said Cooney.
Cooney, a Vietnam veteran, said during the attack his young grandson started to come outside to help, but he yelled at him to stay in.
The woman who was bitten was taken to the hospital and has since returned home.
Foxes are not dangerous to humans, except when they are rabid, which is rare. According to the Humane Society, it is very rare for the fox strain of rabies to be transmitted to a human in the U.S.
Officers captured what they believe to be the same fox on Friday morning at Memorial School. The fox appeared to be sick and in distress and was put down.
Though police believe the fox is likely the same one that bit two residents Thursday, the public is urged to be cautious while they are outside over the next few days.