TOPSHAM, Maine (AP) — A fox suspected of having rabies attacked at least three people in a town near Brunswick, Maine, on Saturday until it was shot.
The Topsham police said they got multiple calls about an aggressive fox starting on Saturday morning, the Times Record reported.
The grey fox attacked at least two different people that were walking with their dogs and then chased another man into his house, the newspaper reported. That man shot the animal with a gun, killing it.
One of the people attacked by the fox, a 57-year-old woman, went to the hospital to be evaluated, the newspaper reported.
Rabies is transmitted through saliva if an infected animal bites a person or an animal and breaks the skin, the newspaper reported. The virus infects the nervous system of mammals. Infected animals often act aggressively.
Vaccines are completely effective in humans, but rabies is fatal if left untreated, the newspaper reported.
The fox will be tested for rabies at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been multiple reported attacks by foxes on people and animals in the past weeks in the area, the newspaper reported.
Police urged people to be cautious when walking their dogs but also warned that it was dangerous to shoot foxes in residential areas.
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