Fox bites biker & jogger

[Lee Borgersen]

    Fox bites biker and a jogger; one has to pry fox's mouth open to get free!

8/17/16

  ..........
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minneapolis animal-control officers caught and euthanized a fox Wednesday morning believed to be the one that bit a woman near Lake Harriet a day earlier, police said.

The fox “was showing symptoms associated with rabies,” police said, and will be tested for the disease.
They cautioned that there’s no way to be sure they got the right fox. A 51-year-old Eagan woman, who suffered minor injuries from the bite, will be vaccinated as a precaution.

Susan Obmoin was bitten on the ankle midday Tuesday near Lake Harriet Parkway and West Minnehaha Parkway, according to police.

 :popcorn :....
She was taking her bike off a rack on her vehicle when she was bitten without provocation. She had to pry open the fox’s mouth open to free herself.

“I thought it was a dog,” she told KARE-TV. “And I reached down and looked and noticed it was a fox. And I screamed, and I’m sure all of Lake Harriet heard me. And they came to my rescue.”

Officials said a fox also bit a jogger in the same area early Wednesday morning. It was believed to be the animal that bit Obmoin.

The mangy-looking fox was caught around 8:15 a.m.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Lee Borgersen]

                    Updated!


   Fox that bit 2 in Minneapolis tests positive for rabies.

 Aug 19, 2016 at 10:52 p.m.

  .....
MINNEAPOLIS -- A fox that is believed to have bitten two people this week at Lake Harriet tested positive for rabies, according to Minneapolis police.
The animal was captured Wednesday by animal control officers after police received reports of a fox biting a woman midday Tuesday and a jogger Wednesday morning, both on the south side of the lake. The Eagan woman who was bitten Tuesday, Susan Obmoin, said she was taking her bike off a car rack when she was bitten. She said she had to pry open the fox’s mouth to free herself.

Testing performed after the fox was captured and euthanized confirmed that it had rabies, officials said Friday.

The Minnesota Department of Health has evaluated the exposure of everyone known to have had contact with the fox, and all are being treated by their health care providers, according to police.

The Department of Health advises people not to feed, approach or adopt wild animals. The department said skunks and bats are the most common carriers of rabies, and other animals typically become infected when they’re bitten by a rabid skunk.

Call police or your local animal control department if you suspect a neighborhood animal has contracted rabies.