Brunswick police say the fox killed by a police officer Friday after apparently attacking four people on Moody Road has tested positive for rabies.

Cmdr. Mark Waltz said police got the test results Tuesday morning from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He said earlier that he couldn’t be sure the one fox was behind all of the attacks Friday.

In a separate incident, Waltz said, a skunk found Sunday on Range Road also tested positive for rabies. It doesn’t appear that the skunk had any contact with people.

The 5-year-old girl, three adults and a dog were attacked and injured by a fox Friday afternoon, police said. The incidents began with 5-year-old daughter of Brook Pisarsky being bitten outside their home. Pisarsky was bitten when she tried to help her daughter.

A fox then attacked a man at another home on Moody Road, scratched him, attacked a dog and killed two chickens.

Latifa Raqib was also injured by a fox that attacked her in her yard. Police shot the fox in her backyard.

Waltz said Monday that all four of those attacked would be treated for possible exposure to rabies.

The Maine CDC has counted 42 confirmed cases of rabies in wildlife so far this year, not including the incidents Friday. Of the 42, seven have occurred in the midcoast area, with four in Brunswick and one each in Bowdoin, Lisbon and Lisbon Falls.

Last year the Maine CDC confirmed 67 cases of rabid animals in Maine.


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