|
This female red fox considered a west Denver neighborhood it's home. She had set up a den and was raising two pups. Local residents often fed her, and this fox was such a community regular that she had even been nicknamed "Foxy" by the local children. Up until Sunday, her biggest crime had been snatching a pair of leather gloves from a local resident doing her yard work. But that day, for no apparent reason, Foxy attacked, biting a toddler nine times.
Two-year-old Jasmine Estrada was playing with her two older sisters in front of their home in the 3700 block of West Third Avenue when she was bitten. The animal hadn't shown any signs of aggression before the incident. But that day it attacked, biting the child seven times on her arm and twice on her face. Jasmine was treated for her injuries at a local hospital and released the same day to recover at home.
"We got scared because we didn't know what was happening," said Jasmines father, Victor Manuel Estrada, who didn't initally see the attack because his view was obscured by a tree. "But then I saw that my little girl had been bitten. If it hadn't been for our neighbor, we wouldn't have found out what was happening," Estrada said. He and the neighbor chased the fox away, who escaped through the family's backyard.
The attack caught local residents by surprise. "Her name is Foxy, and she's tame as hell," remarked Robert Calkins, one of Jasmines neighbors. "She's raising two kits, and they don't cause any problems." Other residents described the fox as not being skittish or scared around people-more like a wandering neighborhood pet than a wild animal.
|
