Likely ‘rabid’ fox bites Texas hiker 6 times in rare attack

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) – Michelle Danos, a Texas State University student, said she went to a lower Purgatory Creek trail Sunday evening to clear her head. 

“I got off work, thought maybe I want to go on a hike,” she said. 

She walked toward a field of blooming Prairie coneflowers when she heard rustling behind her. 

“It was a fox,” Danos said. “It just started walking towards me.”

While it wasn’t foaming at the mouth or charging at her, Danos said she knew something was off as it began approaching her. Foxes generally are elusive and keep to themselves. 

“It got behind me and ended up biting my ankle,” she said. 

Danos tried running away, hitting it with rocks, and physically throwing the fox, but it kept returning to attack her. She finally escaped after throwing the fox into a cactus. She got bitten six times and lost her cellphone in the attack. 

“I’ve had a lot of [rabies] shots,” she said. “I have to get more tomorrow, and then seven days, and then 14 days. So it’s a process.”

The fox, which officials are pretty sure was rabid, bit several people on Sunday. Natasia Moore, an urban biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said fox attacks in Texas are exceedingly rare. 

“It’s not typical behavior,” Moore said. “This [is] the first case of a fox attack in Texas that I know of to date.”

Moore went with crews on Monday to the Purgatory Creek Natural Area to investigate the incident. Officials were interested in finding out if there was denning activity in the area, which could have been a cause for the aggression. 

“In urban areas, if an animal is showing aggression, it can be because they are protecting a den site,” Moore said. “We did not see any fox activity.”

“Unfortunately, [a rabies infection] is looking like the most likely scenario,” Moore continued. ‘

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rabies is “a fatal but preventable viral disease” that can spread between people and animals through bites and scratches. The disease can cause severe brain disease and death if not treated before symptoms start.

As of Tuesday evening, the fox had not been located. Officials told Nexstar’s KXAN that if it has rabies, it likely will die soon, if not already dead.

Pet owners should vaccinate their pets against rabies, which is essential in preventing the spread of the virus and is required by state law, the city said.