Terrifying moment New York woman is attacked twice by rabid fox infected with rabies

Terrifying surveillance footage shows a woman in upstate New York being attacked twice by a rabid fox in her own yard.

The unidentified woman is a niece of CBS 21 News meteorologist Ed Russo, who reports from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“A cousin of mine was attacked by a rabid fox in Ithaca, NY. She’s okay. But gosh, this video is awesome!” the weatherman tweeted on Tuesday.

The video was first shared on Facebook on Sunday by the victim’s husband, Paul Russo. It has been removed since Wednesday afternoon.

“My wife was attacked by a rabid fox last July,” he wrote online. “Our friend edited the footage from the security cameras and made this educational video for us to post to warn everyone that this can happen to anyone.”

The attack, which took place at 2:30 p.m. on July 25, begins when the woman leaves her home through the front door to make a phone call.

An unidentified woman living in Ithaca, New York, was attacked in July by a rabies fox while on the phone in her yard. She was bitten and scratched on her arms and legs while trying to get the animal off her

At one point, the woman even managed to make the fox turn around after grabbing him by the tail

And while she’s talking in her front yard, the fox sneaks up behind her and bites her leg ferociously.

The woman then scrambles around in circles, lifting one foot over the other, trying to get the fox off her leg.

At one point, she seems so unfazed by the rabid animal that she decides to pick it up with her hands before smashing it to the ground.

However, the fox doesn’t hold back and starts jumping on the woman before taking a few steps back and kicking her.

The fox is still relentless in his pursuit of the woman and comes back to attack, but the woman surprisingly grabs him in full swing before going in circles.

She then tries to throw the fox far away, but the animal seems to bite her hand, causing her to scream. The woman eventually throws the fox off her. One of her shoes also goes flying, video shows.

The stubborn fox then seems to fall on the victim again before a man with a stick steps in and tries to whack the animal. However, the woman manages to kick the fox one more time as it competes to bite her loose shoe.

The animal then does a back flip and lands on its back, before fleeing after the man with the stick threatens it from close range.

WOMAN VS FOX: The fox was relentless in its attack and aggressively chased the woman several times before her neighbor stepped in with a stick

The victim managed to kick the fox one last time before startling away when her neighbor, holding a stick, came close.

It was eventually killed after attacking another person in the area, according to the New York Post. The fox was then taken to a lab at Cornell University, where he was confirmed to have rabies.

The woman, on the other hand, came out of the attack with large bites and scratches on her hands and legs, The Post reported.

“It was a beautiful animal and I didn’t want to hurt it,” the woman is quoted in the footage of her attack with the fox. “Unfortunately I had no choice but to fight back because I couldn’t get away. I thank God my neighbor showed up.’

Rabies is caused by a virus that invades the central nervous system and is usually fatal in animals and humans. It is most commonly spread through a bite from an infected animal, with most U.S. infections in recent years traced to encounters with bats.

Infection can cause insomnia, anxiety, confusion, paralysis, drooling, hallucinations, difficulty swallowing and fear of water.

Death can occur just a few weeks after the onset of symptoms. But it can be prevented by a series of five shots given within two weeks of exposure.

Each year, an estimated 60,000 Americans are treated after possible exposure to rabies, the CDC says. Last year, five Americans died of rabies — the largest number in a decade — and health officials said some people were unaware they were infected or were refusing life-saving injections.

No rabies deaths were reported in 2019 or 2020. The last time five rabies deaths were reported in the U.S. in one year was 2011, CDC officials said.