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Woman Begins Rabies Shots Following Mahopac Fox Attack

A Mahopac woman has begun undergoing rabies treatments after being bitten by a fox who attacked her outside home on Saturday, according to the Putnam County Department of Health.

Gray fox

Gray fox

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Although the official rabies tests will not be complete until Tuesday, officials said that because they have had several rabid animals in that area, the decision was made to start treatments, said Barbara Ilardi, spokeswoman for the department.

The attack occurred around 5;45 p.m. Saturday when the woman was in the yard of her home on Agor Lane, said officials with the Putnam County Sheriff's Office.

The woman was in the yard of her home when a gray fox emerged from nearby woods and attacked her, the sheriff's office said. The fox bit the woman on the left ankle and clawed her right ankle and foot, drawing blood, according to the sheriff's office.

The woman then ran inside her home in an effort to get away from the fox, but it pursued her into the house, which was occupied by the woman's children. The woman and the children then fled from the house and closed the door behind them, confining the fox inside, and called 911, the sheriff's office said.

Sheriff's deputies responded to the house, along with paramedics and an ambulance. The woman was given first aid for her bite and claw wounds and was taken by ambulance to Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel for further treatment.

The fox was captured inside the home by local animal trappers and later euthazied in order to perform the rabies test. 

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