Woman taken to hospital after being attacked by fox in Worcester

A woman was attacked by a wild fox in Worcester Friday morning, and the frightening attack was caught on camera.

Video captured the fox running out of a wooded area in the city, darting between parked cars, then biting the woman in the leg on Esther Street at approximately 7 a.m. The fox then came back around and took hold of her purse. The woman was seen running in a circle, trying to shake the animal off.

“We see her running up the stairs, swaying her pocketbook, trying to get off her,” said Dahnyel Swenson, who jumped in to help. “It must of come at her again and lunged her back against the house, because he has white paint from the house on her face.”

The woman’s daughter said her mother was bit several times on her left leg and left arm. Police said the bites were deep enough that they drew blood.

“This little animal did not want to let go,” said Bettyann Koskie, the victim’s neighbor. “She was struggling to get it off of her.”

Frantic neighbors quickly called 911, initially reporting the animal as a coyote.

Video captured the victim kneeling by the bushes, eventually able to trap the fox. Swenson said he was eventually able to keep the fox contained in a recycling bin until Animal Control arrived.

“She had it punned down right by the bush. I run over here trying to find something, a rake, a shovel, a chair, I don’t know,” Swenson said. “She had not a millisecond to do anything – it just attacked her. Thats how you kind of know it was sick.”

The victim was taken to the hospital. Another neighbor was also taken to the hospital as a precaution because she had blood on her.

Animal Control officers euthanized the fox, and said it will be tested for rabies.