Fox attacks 3 Kennesaw residents

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Three Kennesaw residents were taken to the hospital Sunday after being attacked by a fox in the Ellison Lakes neighborhood.

Enlarge photo

Steven Goard This fox, which attacked three people, was shot and killed by a Kennesaw police officer. Now it is being tested for rabies.

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A Kennesaw police officer shot and killed the fox, which is being tested for rabies.

The three residents, who were bitten and scratched, were treated and released.

The incident began on a walking trail about 11:30 a.m.

"A couple of guys were just out exercising, and apparently the fox came out of nowhere and attacked them," Officer Scott Luther, the police spokesman, told the AJC.

Paramedics arrived and took them to the hospital. A short time later, the fox attacked a woman who was walking her dog.

Officer Josh Hale put down the fox.

"It was coming up toward him, and with it attacking the victims, he went ahead and shot it before it attacked someone else," Luther said.

Resident Steven Goard had a close encounter with the fox.

"My kids were outside playing, riding bikes, and I happened to see the fox through the back window," Goard, a 32-year-old graphic designer, told the AJC.

"I went to go get them and tell them to come inside."

Then Goard grabbed his camera. The fox was 10 to 15 feet away.

"I was trying to focus, then he looks at me and I realize he's coming my way," Goard said. "He was charging toward me, his teeth were out and he was making crazy noises. I backed up and the only thing I could do was swing at it. I punched it in the gut and it flew four feet across."

Goard went inside. The fox later chased his dog to the front door.

"Once my dog came in, I had to slam the door three times to make [the fox] go away," Goard said.

Luther said he could recall no similar incidents in Kennesaw.

Two weeks ago, a fox bit three men outside an auto body shop in Fayette County before a Tyrone police officer shot the animal.