WASHINGTON - A mother red fox captured Tuesday on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol has been euthanized and has tested positive for rabies, said a spokeswoman for the Humane Rescue Alliance.
The Washington, D.C., public health lab "has confirmed the fox tested positive for the rabies virus," said the spokeswoman, Sam Miller.
The Washington, D.C. Department of Health said Wednesday in an email that there were nine "confirmed" bites by the fox over the past few days and that it had been "humanely euthanized so that rabies testing" could be done.
Meanwhile, her kits - what fox babies are called - were found and "captured" Wednesday morning, according to city officials. Officials would not disclose where the kits were being kept or whether they, too, would be euthanized. City health authorities said in an email that they were "working to determine next steps for the fox kits."
To figure out whether an animal has rabies, it has to be euthanized, and samples from its brain tissue have to be taken so tests can be run at a lab, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Roughly 120,000 animals a year in the United States are tested for rabies, and of these, about 6% are found to be rabid.
The fox had become big news on social media Tuesday and even had its own Twitter account.
On Tuesday, Tim Barber, a spokesman for the U.S. Capitol Police, had said at least a half-dozen people had been bitten or nipped by the fox. The city's health department increased that number Wednesday to nine.
Barber had said it was hard to figure out how many incidents there had been, because people were reporting them to various places, including Capitol Police, hospitals and clinics. Officials were "not sure how long" the foxes had been around the Capitol grounds or where they came from, Barber said.
On Tuesday, Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., said in a telephone interview that he was among those attacked, about 5 p.m. Monday while he was walking near the Russell Senate Office Building, across the street from the Capitol grounds.
"Yesterday was probably my most unusual day on the Hill in 10 years," Bera said Tuesday.
After feeling something lunge at the back of his leg, Bera said, he turned around, expecting to confront a small dog. Instead, he saw a fox and wielded an umbrella to keep the animal at bay.
"I'm not going to let that fox get behind me," he recalled thinking.
After Capitol Police responded, the fox fled in the direction of the Dirksen and Hart Senate office buildings.
A physician by training, Bera then inspected the damage. He found his pant leg perforated, he said, but did not see any punctures or blood on the skin around his calf and ankles.
Out of an abundance of caution, Bera said, he saw an attending physician, who consulted with infectious-disease doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He has now begun a series of 10 shots, he said, including immunoglobulin shots and a tetanus shot, to combat the disease in case he was exposed.
Bera warned tourists and others visiting the nation's capital to beware.
"Obviously I've never seen a fox on the Hill," he said.
Ximena Bustillo, a reporter for Politico, said Tuesday on Twitter that she had been bitten.
One of the fox encounters occurred at the nearby U.S. Botanic Garden, and another took place on the House side of the Capitol, near the building foundation, according to a House alert sent by the office of the sergeant-at-arms.
On Tuesday, Capitol Police officials said they had received another call about a fox that approached staffers, and that it "may have a den in the mulch bed area on First and C near the Dirksen [Senate Office] Building," northeast of the Capitol grounds. Officials said there was another possible fox den near the "perimeter of the Russell building."
Health officials said "no other foxes" had been found on the Capitol grounds but warned that it would "not be uncommon to see more," because they are "present throughout" the city.
Foxes are considered wild animals, and officials warned that no one should approach them. They are known to be "protective of their dens and territory."
The fox's Twitter account - @thecapitolfox - said Wednesday afternoon: "Gone but not forgotten. May you remember me fondly."
CRolandson on April 6th, 2022 at 23:54 UTC »
There is a rabies vaccine, it's been very successful. It was developed by Dr. William Wunner at the Wistar Institute.
It's administered orally so they can do fly overs of hot spots or even just any wooded area and drop "cakes" for the raccoons and fox to eat.
Maybe Washington needs to start doing that.
PatacusX on April 6th, 2022 at 23:16 UTC »
Rabies is absolutely terrible. 100% not a good way to go.
Full-Mulberry5018 on April 6th, 2022 at 23:00 UTC »
The news on CNN was reporting that he had bitten about 6 or 7 people.