Photo by A. Drauglis

Fairfax County Animal Protection Police officers are searching for at least one fox that bit two elderly people yesterday in Fairfax County. The incidents took place a few hours apart in Springfield, according to a release from the Fairfax County Police Department.

The first encounter involved an 81-year-old woman who was standing in her yard when a fox bit her. It happened in the 8600 block of Kenilworth Drive around 10:35 a.m. “I felt something grab me around the ankle,” the woman told Fox 5. “I looked down and there was this fox. Then I started screaming and he let go. But he kept lunging at me. I was terrified because he kept lunging and I picked up the chair up there and put it in front of me.”

And around 1:55 p.m., a fox bit an 84-year-old man who was mowing his lawn in the 5600 block of Ventnor Lane. The two locations are within a 10 minute walking distance. Both victims went to local hospitals for treatment.

Officials don’t know if the fox, or foxes, are rabid, “however aggressive tendencies such as those exhibited in these cases are one of the signs of rabies,” according to police. Animal protection officers searched the area and placed traps, but have yet to find the fox, or foxes.