First it's Brockton, now Whitman-Foxes on the Attack

I'm wondering if the delayed summer weather is having an effect on local foxes or if this is an example of more foxes than usual?

And how the heck can a fox jump high enough to bite you on your butt?

I have never seen a fox in my area. I have seen coyotes and groundhogs and raccoons.

Fox bites two people in Whitman-The Boston Globe



August 10, 2009 12:42 PM
By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent

During a string of seven fox sightings over several hours in Whitman yesterday, a fox bit one woman in her buttocks and a man in his foot, police said.

“There’s probably more than one,” said Whitman police Officer Frank O’Rourke. “The way they were traveling last night, this fox had to have his best Nike sneakers on to travel that fast.”

A fox was first seen just before 2 p.m. on Brigham Street, where six toddlers played in a residential backyard. The home’s owner, Tom Shannon, said the fox was lying in the shade of his pop-up camper.

“I’ve seen [the fox] two or three times before,” Shannon said, “but always at night and never this close.”

About 30 minutes later, a fox startled a woman in her Franklin Street backyard. She threw a bag of fertilizer at it, scaring it away.

Down the street, less than an hour later, a woman was waxing her car when she was bit in the buttocks, piercing her skin. She received nine shots yesterday as a precaution, O’Rourke said.

Four more sightings, two on Winter Street, one on Hickey Hollow Lane, and one on Franklin Street, came within the next six hours. In one case, a fox bit a man’s foot, but did not break through his sneaker.

Robert Hammond, the town’s animal control officer, believes there is a fox den in the area, O’Rourke said. Hammond was out setting traps this morning.

Although O’Rourke said the town is home to several foxes, usually weighing between 5 and 10 pounds, he has never heard of an attack during his 35 years of duty.

“But not even on my best days would I trust one,” he said.