Ferrier said one of the children's parents scared the fox off with a leaf blower before it could inflict any more harm.
WESTFIELD — Leaview Drive resident Sherry Ferrier saw the fox that bit three children this week roaming the neighborhood all summer.
“It’s been around for months. I would see it go through the front yard,” she said. “I thought it looked pretty healthy – not rabid or mangy. I thought it was a very good looking red fox.”
The children, aged 2, 6 and 7, were playing outdoors in their Eastwood Acres neighborhood off Union Street Monday evening when the fox approached them and bit them through their pants, causing minor scrapes to their legs.
Ferrier said one of the parents scared the fox off with a leaf blower before it could inflict any more harm.
Animal Control Officer Kenneth Frazer said the children did not suffer puncture wounds, but he nevertheless advised the parents to make sure their children received the rabies shots.
“Their clothing deterred the teeth from puncturing the skin,” he noted. “Everyone is in the process of having their rabies shots.”
Frazer said it is likely the fox has rabies and mange, and that it was not attracted to the neighborhood by backyard chickens belonging to a neighbor.
While keeping chickens in the yard of a residential neighborhood is in violation of city ordinance and the owners have been asked to remove them, Frazer said the fowl would not have attracted an animal with rabies.
In addition, Frazer said he suspects the fox, which remains at large, is infected with rabies because those animals do not usually attack people unless they are sick.
“Foxes don’t usually attack people arbitrarily, “he said Wednesday morning. “When rabies hits the brain, they don’t know what they’re doing. It sounds infected, based on its behavior.”
So far, the fox has not been located, another indicator that it was likely very sick, Frazer said.
“It has eluded everyone,” he added. “We searched for it for two hours yesterday (Tuesday) morning, and we were hoping to it was still alive and that we would be able to subdue it. If it did, in fact, have rabies, it would be dead within 72 hours. It probably crawled off in the bushes to die.”
Frazier advises that residents keep a close eye on children or keep them inside for the next several days.