11/5/2008 8:44:00 PM
Chino Valley woman battles rabid fox
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| Les Stukenberg/The Daily Courier
Michelle Felicetta stands with Granite Mountain in the background on the opposite side of where she trail-runs 8 miles a week and was, on Monday, Nov. 3, attacked by a rabid fox. |
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A Chino Valley woman must undergo a series of rabies shots after battling a sick fox that bit her twice.
Thirty-year-old Michelle Felicepta said she was jogging late Monday afternoon on her favorite trail at the base of Granite Mountain when she saw the fox coming down onto the trail ahead of her. She stopped as the 10- to 15-pound animal turned and faced her.
"I knew something was wrong when its eyes locked in on me," Felicepta said Wednesday during a telephone interview.
As she started backing away, the fox lunged at her and bit her foot. Then it went for her knee.
As it did, the woman instinctively grabbed it by the neck, trying to pull it away.
"As soon as I grabbed its neck, it started thrashing and grabbed my left arm," Felicepta continued.
The fox bit down hard, drawing blood.
"The teeth were in real deep," Felicepta recalled.
She started looking around for a stick to pry its mouth open, but couldn't find one.
"I was choking him with my right hand and each time I (loosened) up my grip a little, he got a little bit of air and he'd start thrashing around and kind of screaming."
Finally, believing the fox was rabid and knowing authorities would need to test it to make sure, she decided to run back to her car - parked about a mile and a half away - with the fox's mouth still clamped on her arm, her right hand gripped tightly around its throat.
"Thank god for adrenaline," Felicepta said.
After reaching her car and popping open the trunk, she managed to pry the fox's mouth open.
"I'd been choking that thing the whole time," Felicepta said, laughing at her own ferocity.
She yanked off her sweatshirt, wrapped it around the fox and flung the animal into her trunk "as hard as I could," she added.
Next, she hopped into her car and drove herself to Yavapai Regional Medical Center. On the way there, she finally got scared.
"That's when it kind of sunk in," Felicepta said.
At the hospital, the fox also bit a Yavapai County Animal Control Officer as the officer was getting the animal out of the trunk, said Dwight D'Evelyn, spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.
On Tuesday, the Arizona State Health Laboratory in Phoenix tested the fox and confirmed it had rabies.
Felicepta will get five rabies shots over the next few weeks. The animal control officer will get only two or three because he had already received a pre-exposure rabies vaccination, D'Evelyn said.
Arizona's public health veterinarian, Elisabeth Lawaczeck, said Felicepta did the best she could under difficult circumstances.
"It's kind of just bad luck when you're on a trail and get attacked," Lawaczeck said.
Last year Yavapai County had six confirmed cases of rabies in wild animals. So far this year it has recorded 10.
That's not unusual, Lawaczeck said.
"Rabies is a cyclical disease because it wipes out the population that has it," she explained.
For more information about rabies, call the Arizona Department of Health Services at 602-364-4562.
Contact the reporter at tshultz@prescottaz.com
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Posted: Monday, November 10, 2008
Article comment by:
George Leong
Its better than a bank bailout that just robbed the american people.
Posted: Friday, November 07, 2008
Article comment by:
No name provided
Michelle, my dear sister, is such a nature lover and animal lover, I know that this was a strange situation for her. I'm not surprised she handled it so well, because she is a leader, has a quick mind, and no amount of pain or gore can distract her from taking care of business. She doesn't hesitate to do what she knows is best at the moment.
Posted: Friday, November 07, 2008
Article comment by:
wrench
really puzzled why she didn't suffocate the fox while she had her hands on it.
Posted: Friday, November 07, 2008
Article comment by:
Fashion Police!!!
Oh my gosh! I hope they weren't white sandals. After all, it is after Labor Day. Are you kidding me? A lady gets attacked by a rabid fox and you focus on her footwear?
Posted: Friday, November 07, 2008
Article comment by:
John
from looking at her she could carry a rabid bear to the vet and make a mtv special. Hero definitions are changing..hmm
Posted: Friday, November 07, 2008
Article comment by:
Animal Control
Is the Devil Guy rabid too? Should he be tested too?
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
No name provided
Sorry but some people have their own thing and maybe Michelle thinks tennis shoes are overrated!! I don't think the fox really cared what kind of shoes she had on, it just wanted to attack something. Above all she didn't asked to be attacked it happened and she reacted.
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
trippetta
Not one to draw away from the heroism of her actions but hiking in fall in sandals?
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
No name provided
Good job Michelle I am proud of you. That could have been anybody or their dog. You are a smart and quick thinking woman. Those people who live around there and/or go hiking around there should be on the watch out because more rabid creatures could be out there. Knowing Michelle this quick reaction doesn't suprise me one bit. She is an intelligent woman and probably saved someone else from being bitten that day. U ROCK SIS
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Dear
The story said "On Tuesday, the Arizona State Health Laboratory in Phoenix tested the fox and confirmed it had rabies." It's not that the Courier is so sloppily written, its just that some people need to have every little thing spelled out for them. So here it goes; When the lab tests the animal for rabies THEY KILL IT FIRST! I hope this clears up any questions you might have.
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Ruger, my friend and hiking partner
I'm with Duasia, my new hiking partner is a Ruger SP101, .357 mag.
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
No name provided
HAAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA
poor foxypoo
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Court Jester
To Reader.. I will tell you what happened to the fox. The only way to check to see if an animal has rabies is to take it's head off and examine it. So I imagine the fox is no longer with us, bercause the story said it tested positive for rabies. OFF WITH WITH IT'S HEAD!!
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Reader
So? What happened to the fox?? God, the Courier is always so sloppily written.
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Ignore Devil Guy
The Devil Guy is off his meds today. He usually isn't THAT rude and crude. Shame on you, Devil Guy! Maybe you should be advocating for the victim of this crime and not the criminal fox?
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Dedd Foxx
I am so sorry she got bitten, but have to admire her tenacity. I'd hate to see what she'd do to a guy with a knife. I'm sure the fox's family would be proud to know he went down fighting as the last breath was being choked out of him. His hide will look good on a barn door.
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
The Devil Guy
Darn, I was routing for the fox...he was just jogging along as well, ya know!
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
A Prescottonian
RIGHT ON MICHELLE!!! You really showed that beast who was in charge and smart quick thinking to take it with you! Hope everything goes well with the treatment, take care!
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
No name provided
Wow am I impressed. I don't think I could have been as quick to think clearly and act to fast. Thank you Michelle and thank you Courier for the interesting story.
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Liz
This is an amazing story! Heard it for the first time on last nights news. This is a very brave woman who kept her cool under this horrific attack. Hope your wounds heal quickly and the treatments go well. Liz.
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Dave
They need to make a Lifetime movie out of this story. . .
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
No name provided
What a very brave and quick-thinking woman! I wish you the best in your treatment. I walk that trail frequently and have never seen wildlife - it's a reminder that this can happen to anyone. You are certainly to be admired for how you handled the situation!
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
duasia
One more reason to always carry a pistol. Of course, if predator control via leg-hold traps had been left to competent people at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, instead of being outlawed by the ballot box in 1994, the fox might not have been there in the first place.
Posted: Thursday, November 06, 2008
Article comment by:
Citizen
Wow. What a change of pace. Yesterday Mac and Obama, today a rabbid fox. Time for another journalistic award.
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