Fox Put Down After Biting 2 People Near Lake Harriet
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – An Eagan woman has been started on a three-week regimen of rabies shots after an unprovoked attack by a red fox.
Susan Obmoin says she was getting her bicycle off a car rack near Lake Harriet when suddenly and without warning, the fox latched onto her ankle.
Minneapolis Animal Control officers made the rounds Wednesday morning as joggers strolled by without seemingly a care. Most were unaware of Tuesday's attack that left Obmoin's ankle bloodied and sore.
"It didn't do just a little bite and run away - it was latched to me," Obmoin said.
Obmoin was planning a noon bicycle ride and was in the process of removing her bike from the car rack. That's when she said the mangy looking red fox appeared out of nowhere. She first felt the fur against her leg and then immediately felt the painfully sharp teeth, pierce her skin.
"I had to pull it off. I had to go down there and take its mouth and pull it off of me," Obmoin said.
The sharp teeth left nasty puncture wounds on both sides of Susan's ankle. She was aided by others in the area of Minnehaha and Lake Harriet Parkways where the attack occurred.
A photograph taken by animal control shows the fox after capture at the end of a pole and neck restraint.
"Oh my gosh, that gives me the creeps," Obmoin shrieks as she looks at the photo for the first time.
"Of course it looks better on camera than it does on my ankle," Obmoin said.
"She was standing there with her ankle bleeding," said eyewitness Michael Waring.
The Edina man came to Obmoin's aid and called 911. He advised her to seek immediate medical attention for the bite.
After himself encountering the fox while walking his daughter's dog in the same general area, Waring armed himself with a sawed off hockey stick.
He figured he wasn't taking any chances and thought a good whack from the stick could ward off any attack.
"I'd heard about it and because of the fact I heard this growling noise in the evening, I began carrying this stick, absolutely," Waring said.
Minneapolis Animal Control confirms that another person was bitten early Wednesday morning while out jogging in the same general area. By 8:15 a.m. the suspected rabid fox was captured and later euthanized. Tests are now being performed on the brain of the fox to determine if it indeed had rabies, a fatal viral disease.
Despite what she's been through, Susan Obmoin can still laugh it off – figuring it is a good remedy for all her pain.
"What else can you do, I have rabies," Obmoin jokes.
Regardless of the outcome of the testing, rabies shots have already begun. That's because there is no certain way of knowing if this was the same fox that bit the two.
Besides a tetanus shot in her arm, doctors gave Obmoin the first of four post-bite vaccinations. Obmoin will receive another rabies shot Friday and over the next two weeks.
