Threatening fox shot by Fayetteville police

Thu, 05/22/2008 - 10:25am
By: John Munford

Fayetteville police shot and killed a fox this morning that had attacked a local woman at her home on Sharon Drive.

Police were summoned to the scene after the woman reported the fox attacked her, and while they were looking for the animal police got another similar call about the same fox in the area, said Lt. Steve Crawshaw.

The gray fox was reportedly acting aggressively also, Crawshaw said.

Shortly after police found the fox and ultimately fired several times to kill the animal, Crawshaw said. That decision was made to prevent any further attacks on humans, Crawshaw confirmed.

The animal has been turned over to Fayette County Animal Control so it can be tested for rabies, Crawshaw said.

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Acey1's picture
Submitted by Acey1 on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 12:16pm.

Ouch. I hope not. BIG needles in the caboose...


Submitted by NinaLynn on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 11:44am.

Sorry but I can't help but wonder.....this poor little guy just saw her and came up to her and bit her? I'm so sorry she got hurt but did she attempt to touch him in any way? Or taunt and tease the poor thing? He was out of his element and was more then likely frightened.

Submitted by hanlonk3 on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 6:24pm.

I live just across the street from the woman who made the call and was at home during this time. She was getting stuff out of her van when the fox just came up on her and was poised to attack her. She was able to throw something at him to get into her car. She did not in any way provoke the altercation. Most people I would think DO have enough intelligence not to try and pet a fox!! Another man down the street came up after the fracas and stated that his neighbor at the other end of Sharon Drive had almost been attacked right before that and also managed to get into his house. It killed a cat underneath a crawl space between the time my neighbor made the call and the police responded about 2 doors down. My guess is that it was rabid since it was being aggressive. We were also told by one of the people who responded that an attack against an elderly woman on Hood Avenue had happened shortly before this call. It would be easy for a fox to end up on Sharon Drive from Hood Avenue and most likely would be the same animal. She apparently was taken to the hospital because it bit her. My concern now is if in fact it turns out to have had rabies will our finest and animal control comb the woods around our neighborhood to make sure Mr. Fox didn't have a rabid Mrs. Fox or babies with him?

Submitted by NeedtoKnow on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 7:13pm.

will our finest and animal control comb the woods around our neighborhood to make sure Mr. Fox didn't have a rabid Mrs. Fox or babies with him

From what I've been told (can't access the Ga DNR website right now to verify), it is illegal to trap foxes in the state of Ga except for Dec-Feb. That would not apply to rabid foxes, of course. But where do you draw the line? I say you draw the line at... if it isn't acting unnaturally, you leave it alone. (And duh, of course the fox shot today was acting unnaturally, and should've been taken care of, as it was.)

Voice of Fayette Future's picture
Submitted by Voice of Fayett... on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 12:40pm.

Foxes initiating contact with humans is a big sign of rabies. It shows the onset of mental illness. (Maybe Loggie is rabid). Foxes normally don't mess with humans.

I seriously doubt if this lady was poking that fox with a stick or something.

Good thing is that this saved an officer a trip to the range.


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