Cornelia Animal Control is still looking for a suspected rabid fox that attacked a homeowner on Tower Mountain in Cornelia over the weekend. The city’s chief marshall Jeff Barron says the attack happened around 9:30 Sunday morning at the home of Ed and Barbara Strain on Tower Mountain Court.
READ: Fox attack victim’s wife: “We weren’t safe on our front porch!”
Ed’s wife Barbara alerted friends and neighbors to the attack through social media. She says her husband was tying roses to their front porch when the fox attacked “unprovoked.” In her post she describes the fox as “very aggressive and dangerous” and expresses her hope it will soon be caught. “I hope all walkers and runners around the Tower will be cautious,” says Strain.
A cautionary tale
“Everything is being done to capture this fox,” assures Barron. Traps have been set but he says that seldom works with foxes, especially rabid ones. Barron and his team will be walking the area over the next few days trying to locate the fox.
“Foxes are very territorial,” explains Barron, and this one is not expected to stray far from the Tower Mountain Court area. He urges, “If anyone observes a suspicious animal, they need to contact their Animal Control Office or dial 911. Barron stresses, “NEVER, EVER, NEVER go anywhere close to any animal acting ‘funny’ or behaving out of the ‘ordinary’.”
The fox that attacked Strain is believed to be rabid based on the description and aggressiveness it exhibited. Still, the only definitive way to determine if an animal has rabies is to examine its brain. If the animal is not captured and killed, it likely will die on its own.
Barron says if this fox is rabid it should only live another 5-10 days.
For now, pet owners on Tower Mountain are encouraged to keep their pets indoors if at all possible. All pet owners are urged to keep your animals vaccinated. Georgia state law and local ordinances require it and it could save your pet’s life. Barron says unvaccinated pets that come into contact with rabid animals most likely will have to be euthanized.
