Photo of red fox by Flickr user digitalprimate. Published under Creative Commons license.
The Sullivan County Democrat reports:
On July 4, Town of Liberty Animal Control Officer Joanne Gerow received a call that an unidentified animal had attacked several people over a 24-hour period at the Summer Gala bungalow colony on Old White Lake Turnpike in Swan Lake.
The day before, two people, a five year old girl and her mother, were attacked by the animal at around 7:30 p.m. The girl was bitten on the arm, and was later sent to the hospital for rabies treatment. Her mother fought the animal off, and was bitten in the leg. Fortunately, only her pants were damaged, and she was unharmed. The next day, an 84-year-old woman was attacked in the same area. Like the child, she was also sent to the hospital to receive rabies treatment.
A fox was later trapped in the area, euthanized, and found to have been infected with rabies.
It's not the first fox attack in the area this summer. In Otego, two children playing on a trampoline were attacked by a fox recently. And about a month ago, a woman in the Schoharie County town of Esperance was attacked while cleaning out a camper.
