Man fights off rabid fox with hammer

LEXINGTON, N.C. — A North Carolina man had to resort to a household tool to fend off a rabid fox that attacked him.

WFMY reported that Ronald Jowers was sitting on the front porch of his mother's Lexington, North Carolina home Tuesday when he heard rustling in nearby bushes.

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"I didn't see anything and then the next thing that I know, I feel something hitting ... my side," Jowers told WFMY. "And it was a fox."

Jowers said the animal weighed about 25 to 30 pounds and wouldn't let go.

"He was holding on for dear life," Jowers said.

WGHP reported that Jowers screamed for his sister to get something she could fight him off with. She grabbed a hammer and repeatedly hit the fox with it as Jowers held the animal down. Jowers said they fought with the animal until it was dead.

The Dispatch reported that officials with the Davidson County Health Department confirmed Thursday that the fox tested positive for rabies. Jowers was bitten in the stomach and legs, WGHP reported. Officials with the Lexington Police Department said no skin was broken, but he suffered scratches and his clothing was bitten, according to The Dispatch.

WFMY reported that after Jowers and his sister fought off the animal, they called paramedics and went to a hospital, where he got 17 rabies shots.

"I had my second session of shots today," he told WFMY Friday. "I just got back from the hospital. I only had one (shot), but any needle is painful."

Jowers is due back for a third and fourth round of shots later in the month. His sister was not bitten in the incident.

Cox Media Group