TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Rabies is suspected in an animal attack in the Vail area.
About 11:30 on Wednesday a woman was walking on a path near the Pantano Wash in the Rancho Del Lago part of Vail. A fox came out and attacked her and she kicked it to keep it away. When she did, it bit her on the leg. Then the fox went to a pond at a nearby golf course and actually went in and drowned itself.
Unnatural behavior like that is why Arizona Game and Fish, and the Pima County Health Department suspect rabies.
It can make animals normally afraid to come near a human attack or seem surprisingly friendly.
Animals don't have to bite you to infect you. You might only have to touch something like a dead bat.
Pima Health Department Deputy Director Paula Mandel says, “If you would have contact with saliva, say on a cut in your hand, or if the mucus touched a puncture wound or even if you would get something on your hand and would touch your eyes or your mouth, touch a mucous membrane, you can be exposed that way."
Health experts, say rabies infections will kill you so any contact demands a trip to the doctor for preventive treatment.
You can see more advice on rabies safety at this link.
Walking with his puppy Curley, Bill Limberis is concerned about the fox attack but aware of how to stay safe.
“If one came up to me, we'd turn around and go the other way. It would scare us. Craig: You've got to be faster than they are. For sure, yeah. We'd try to stay out of the way, and get away from them and then stay away from that area."
