A fox said to have bitten multiple people on Capitol Hill before eventually getting nabbed and euthanized has tested positive for rabies.
“The DC Public Health lab has confirmed the fox that was captured yesterday tested positive for the rabies virus. DC Health is contacting all human victims who were bitten by the fox,” the DC Department of Health reportedly said in a statement on Wednesday.
The department had previously noted that the animal was “humanely euthanized so that rabies testing may be done.”
Democratic Rep. Ami Bera of California was one of the unfortunate people who recently experienced a fox attack.
Heather Caygle of Punchbowl News reported that the Bera told her that the animal had pierced his suit to his sock, but that the congressman said he did not see any wound on his skin.
Bera characterized the attack that unfolded near the Russel building as “unprovoked.”
“I didn’t see it and all of a sudden I felt something lunge at the back of my leg,” the congressman said, according to Caygle. “I jumped and got my umbrella,” Bera noted.
Caygle said that the congressman demonstrated how he turned around swiftly, utilizing his umbrella to frighten the creature away.
“Someone was like ‘hey a fox is attacking that guy,'” Bera said. “Capitol police came out and then fox ran away. It was the most bizarre day in Congress,” the congressman noted.
“I expect to get attacked if I go on Fox News, I don’t expect to get attacked by a fox,” he said, according to Caygle.
Scott Wong of NBC News noted in a tweet that Bera had said he was not certain that the fox that was captured was the same fox that had bitten him.
“The fox pierced Rep. Bera’s suit, but it was inconclusive whether or not the fox pierced his skin,” Bera’s communications director Travis Horne reportedly said. “Out of an abundance of caution and per the Attending Physicians recommendation, Rep. Bera went to Walter Reed Hospital … and received his appropriate shots,” Horne noted