5 kids bitten by fox in Lakewood, New Jersey
A presumably rabid fox bit 5 youngsters in Lakewood, NJ this week and should have attacked a sixth youngster, in line with officers and stories.
The scary string of incidents unfolded Tuesday at a playground in John Avenue Park within the central New Jersey city and in a number of backyards, the Ocean County Well being Division mentioned.
A 5-year-old boy on the playground was bitten round 10 a.m., 6ABC reported, citing police stories. One other youngster was pounced on at their dwelling however escaped unharmed, whereas a unique household informed cops three youngsters have been bitten of their yard.
Simply earlier than 7 p.m., an 8-year-old boy was additionally bitten on the playground, according to Patch.
At the very least one child obtained rabies photographs and one was handled at a neighborhood hospital and launched. Authorities haven’t launched info on the accidents, and Lakewood Police didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark.
Animal management is trying to find the fox, a spokesman for the Ocean County Well being Division mentioned.
Locals are so freaked out by the kid-chomping animal assaults they’re scrambling to get dwelling earlier than darkish so that they don’t grow to be fodder for the fox, one space pastor informed The Publish.
Parishioners at Higher Bethel Church of God, simply across the nook from John Avenue Park, are nervous as a result of the assaults occurred in an space the place so many households and kids collect, and the place the church hosts its barbecues.
“That’s very alarming as a result of you could have so many kids on the market and that’s horrible when the youngsters get attacked or get damage,” mentioned Rev. John Jones. “Something can occur.”
The animal or animals should be on the unfastened, mentioned Daniel Regenye, Ocean County’s public well being coordinator.
“There may be the likelihood they’d nonetheless be roaming,” he mentioned.
A day earlier, one other New Jersey fox reportedly attacked two individuals and a canine at Double Bother State Park, about 20 minutes south of the closely Orthodox neighborhood of Lakewood. The Monday assault within the 8,000-acre park prompted official to shut down the green space for at the least three days.
A lifeless fox was discovered this week within the park and later examined constructive for rabies however officers don’t consider it was the identical animal accountable for Monday’s assault.
Regenye mentioned that there have been seven documented circumstances of rabies in animals up to now this 12 months in Ocean County: the lifeless fox, three bats, two cats and a raccoon. There have been 17 circumstances for all of 2021.
