WOOLWICH, Maine — A pair of foxes attacked a man in Woolwich last week -- a community that neighbors a city where more than a dozen residents and pets were attacked by rabid foxes last year.
James Collins, 79, said he was using a motorized trimmer in his yard when he was knocked to the ground by fox. He struck that fox until it fled, and whacked a second fox with a cane.
Collins was bitten several times on his arms and legs and received medical treatment for rabies.
Collins’ experience is similar to the ones experienced by the 18 Bath residents and pets who were attacked by rabid foxes last year.
In January, 88-year-old Norman Kenney fought off a rabid fox with his bare hands in Bath.
"I grabbed him by the neck, trying to choke him. I can feel his windpipe," said Kenney.
Kenney said he was attacked in his driveway last week. The intense struggle lasted for fifteen minutes until a jogger came by to help.
"He comes over and I said, 'put your foot on his neck.' I gave him the phone to call 911, but by then he had bitten my hand. There was so much blood on the phone, he had to wipe it off," Kenney said.
This isn't Kenney's first encounter with a fox. In September, he killed one with his foot.
"I was 87-years-old when I fought off the other one," Kenney said.
Then in February, a Phippsburg man fought off a rabid fox with an ice scraper as it lunged at him while he was getting ready to leave for work.
In May, a 76-year-old woman was sitting in a yard on the Keay Road in Lisbon when a fox suddenly appeared and charged at her.
The fox bit the woman on her legs and hand as she struggled to get control of the animal. The woman’s husband heard her cries for assistance and was able to gain control of the fox, eventually killing it.