Fox Bites Woman Several Times, Later Attacks House Cat; Animal Protection Police Collect Animal for Testing

Reston Police District – Animal Protection Police Officers (APP) responded for a report of a fox that bit a 71-year-old woman multiple times today (March 7). The woman was walking in the 600 block of Ad Hoc Road, in Great Falls, around 3 p.m. when the fox approached from behind and bit her multiple times in the lower body. She turned to fight the fox off and was bitten a few more times. After successfully fighting off the fox, she went to a nearby neighbor’s home and called police. She was taken to the hospital with serious, but non-life threatening-injuries.

Approximately one hour later, APP officers received another call for a fox attacking a cat in the 400 block of Chesapeake Drive, about three miles from Ad Hoc Road. The cat’s owner, a 54-year-old woman, kicked the fox away from her cat, and with her husband’s help, they trapped the fox and held it until officers arrived.

The cat, a 9-year-old brown tabby, did not require medical attention but was quarantined. The cat owner was not harmed. The fox was collected, euthanized and taken to the Health Department for rabies testing. APP officers believe the same fox was involved in both incidents.