Crossposted from Biodiversivist
The above Animal Planet video shows a man trying to fend off a rabid fox …with a loaf of bread.
I just spent a week with my family in a cabin on the shore of Brant Lake in the Adirondacks. While walking along a main road my wife and I were met by a guy coming up his driveway with 2 x 4. He said that a pregnant woman had just been bitten by a fox with rabies. She had to hit it with a paddle to get it to let go of her leg. He graciously loaned me his 2 x 4 for the rest of our walk. I found fresh Fox scat on the road.
The next morning there was fresh fox scat a few feet from our cabin door. A Google search found this article:
Woman attacked by fox near Brant Lake
This got me to wondering how long a rabid fox will live once it reaches this late stage in the disease. Not long I think because I did not see any fresh scat for the rest of the week.
I also didn’t see any bats. The insects were still there, banging on the screen door under the porch light but there was not a bat to be seen, anywhere. Another Google search turned up the reason why:
Little brown bat could be gone from Northeast in 16 years
They are being wiped out by White Nose fungus.