© Associated PressA fox wearily eyes the camera while out for a walk in this file photo.
The rabies-infected animals were among five foxes that were destroyed by police and tested after they had charged two police officers and people walking their dogs in the vicinity of Lake Musconetcong.
One woman was bitten on both ankles and her dog was also bitten by a fox Wednesday on Musconetcong Road. Her dog was one of two that bitten last week, police said.
"This is unusual, four out of five is unusual. It's an anomaly" Sussex County health administrator Herb Yardley said.
"People need to have their animals vaccinated for rabies. Even pets that don't go outdoors. If they get out just once, they could be exposed," said Yardley, speculating that a single den of foxes could have been exposed in Stanhope after one of its members became rabid.
Ralph D'Aries, chief of the rabies program at the county Department of Environmental and Public Health Services, said the woman who was bitten is undergoing treatment for her injuries and the dogs, who had been vaccinated, are being quarantined for 45 days as a precautionary measure.
Another person was bitten on a shoe and another man was bitten on the back of his jeans, police said.
Had the two dogs not been vaccinated, said D'Aries, they would face a much stricter quarantine regimen, including no exposure to humans or other animals for six months.
"That's cruel," he said.
More recently, Stanhope police destroyed a fox on Monday after it was "chasing people around" at a park near Lake Musconetcong, Police Chief Steven Pittigher said.
Police are being especially vigilant about the possibility of rabid foxes in the area, said Pittigher.
"If we see any animal showing signs of disease, we will destroy the animal," he said.
Hopatcong animal control officer Dale Sloat, who assisted in the Stanhope investigation, said residents should notify police if they see an animal exhibiting the following behaviors:
- overly aggressive
- not afraid of people
- infrequent movement
- it falls over while standing or walking
- it walks or runs in circles.
Rabies, a viral disease that causes encephalitis in warm-blooded animals, can be fatal to humans if left untreated and is most commonly transmitted by dog bites.
"Stay away from forest, It is dangerous"