A 5-year-old boy grabbed a rabid fox by the neck and pinned it to the ground during a family BBQ, protecting six other children until his stepfather could intervene.
Rayshun McDowell was bit in the leg, but the 61-pound-boy held the animal down for more than a minute. Test results confirmed the fox had rabies, which is fatal unless treated before symptoms appear. Rayshun is undergoing treatment.
Rayshun's stepfather, Ryan Thompson, pulled the boy off the animal and kicked it. Thompson, wearing a cast because of a broken leg, said he used a stick and his crutch to beat the fox to death.
Rayshun, meanwhile, asked only for a Band-Aid and didn't complain of any pain.
"Rayshun was really calm and wasn't upset," his mother said. "I couldn't believe he would do something like that. He was so brave, and I was a wreck."
Rabies attacks the nervous system and is transmitted through saliva. It often makes animals aggressive. A 6-year-old girl who was attacked by a fox the same day at her home nearby is also undergoing treatment.

This entry was posted by BriK, on Thursday, July 5, 2007. You can leave your response.