Maine

Maine Woman Recovering After Rabid Fox Attack

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A Maine mom of two is recovering at home after being attacked by a rabid fox.

Thursday morning, Eliza Watson was gardening in her yard when she saw the animal come out of the woods.

Unlike healthier foxes she’s seen poke around the chicken and goat pens at her home, this fox was “really scraggly,” she said.

After she moved towards it -- worried it would go near her five-year-old son who had also been outside -- the fox charged at Watson, beginning a 45-minute ordeal that ended with Watson shoving the fox in a turkey fryer after trying to strangle it.

“I saw the lid and was like here we go!” she said.

As soon as the fox was under the cover, Watson called her husband to come home from work and 9-1-1 which brought game wardens and an ambulance to her house, so she could leave to get rabies shots at a hospital.

“I was using all my strength to keep the lid on this pot, it’s a pretty big pot,” she said.  “My muscles were angry.”

After the initial adrenaline rush subsided, Watson characterized the ambulance trip as a stress reliever because she had been working from home for several weeks because of the ongoing pandemic.

“Part of me was like wow, this is like the most relaxing moment I’ve had in the last weeks,” she said.

Friday, Watson says she was informed by the State of Maine that the fox had tested positive for rabies.

She’s expected to fully recover from injuries to her hands.

The turkey fryer had to be disposed of because of contamination concerns.  

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