A Truly Vicious Rabid Fox Attack Is Caught on Video

Sherri Russo suffered 16 wounds
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 26, 2022 9:10 AM CDT

A bite from a rabid animal is a dangerous thing. Sherri Russo suffered many magnitudes of that. The Ithaca, New York, woman was attacked in her yard by a rabid fox last month and suffered 16 wounds, in a vicious and relentless attack caught on video surveillance. The 61-year-old was talking on her phone when she felt a nip on her leg. Russo says she looked down expecting to see her neighbor's dog and shoo him away. Instead, it was a grey fox.

"He was a little guy, but he was just relentless, he just kept coming back and each time he did I started to lose a little more confidence in my ability to ward him off," Russo said. Indeed, the video shows Russo kick the creature away from her several times, only to have him swiftly go after her again. "When I reached down to grab him off my leg and yank him away, that's when he took a hold of between my thumb and my forefinger, and he just chomped down on me," she said; video shows the fox hanging from her hand mid-air.

Fox News reports she feared she would be "eaten alive"—until her neighbor, armed with a stick, intervened. "I just thank God that my neighbor turned up," says Russo. "I can't get over how kind it was for him to not look the other way or pretend he didn't hear anything. I'll be forever grateful for that." The fox's rabies was confirmed, and Russo has since gotten a rabies vaccine and antibiotics. WRGB reports the fox was euthanized. (More animal attack stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X