He was in disbelief of what just happened. There was a rush of adrenaline. After calling the police to report the attack, he looked back out at the fence. The rabid fox was gone.
Campbell was in his yard the Thursday before Memorial Day cutting grass when the lone fox calmly walked right up to him. He recalled, at first glance, thinking it was a neighbor's cat or dog.
"I was 100% calm," he said. "Then I realized it was a fox."
Without having a chance to react, Campbell said the fox jumped up and bit him in the hip completely piercing through his clothing.
"He was attached at the hip," he said. "It was parallel sticking out from my hip as I was smashing it with my hands."
Campbell said the fox looked to be about 15 to 20 pounds.
"It was bigger than a cat but smaller than a dog," he added.
He fought to get the fox off of him, and eventually succeeded, but the fox kept coming back.
"It didn't charge at me, it just kept treading back up to me," he said. "It wasn't hissing or foaming at the mouth or anything."
Campbell said the fox approached 15 to 20 more times and each time he kicked it in the head to fight it off. The final kick was to the chest, which punted the fox into the fence catching its leg long enough for Campbell to run inside.
After cleaning out his wound, he headed out the door to drive to the emergency room. As he walked down his driveway he noticed the fox approaching him again.
"I thought 'let me see if this guy is stupid enough to follow me,'" he said.
It's not that the poor animal is "stupid enough" to follow him. It's that the rabies virus is eating his brain and he is in horrible agony while slowly dying.
Campbell then headed to his garage in hopes the fox will follow, and it did. Once inside the garage, he jumped over the fox and swiftly made it to the door, closing it behind him to trap the animal. Inside, he could hear the animal jumping around and later found it it bit the handle of a metal gas can.
"It was like a terminator or a zombie," he said.
The authorities arrived shortly after.
Campbell was given a tetanus shot and was treated for his wound at the hospital, which he said was about two inches long and an eighth of an inch deep. He started a series of rabies shots the next morning.
The fox was euthanized and a brain sample test for rabies came back positive, according to Edgewater Park Police.
Rick Bailey, an animal control officer for M&R Wildlife Removal in Palmyra, said shots administered after a rabid animal bite only prevent the human from contracting the disease after that one particular incident with the animal. A pre-emptive rabies shot can help prevent anyone from contracting the disease if they're later bitten, he said.
Bailey said you have one month to receive a rabies shot after coming in contact with an animal, but suggests receiving it immediately after being exposed.
"It all depends on where the bite is on the body," he said. "The farther from the head, the longer you have."
"There are many stages of rabies," Bailey said. "The dumb stage, in which they get really lethargic, the friendly stage and the aggressive stage."
Campbell said the fox that approached him seemed like a tame animal.
"If it stood there much longer, I might have reached down and pet it," he said.
Campbell said it's not uncommon to see a wild animal in the area, but added that he usually sees them from afar.
"I've been here all my life," he said. "You hear about fox sightings on occasion but I've been hearing about it more than usual."
Since the attack, Campbell said he is more aware of his surroundings.
"I'm definitely a little more shy," he said. "And my peripheral is definitely more attentive."
(NJ.com - June 21, 2016)
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