Man uses golf club to defend himself against rabid fox in Westerly
A Charlestown man killed a rabid fox with a golf club after he was attacked multiple times at the Winnapaug Golf Course in Westerly on Friday.
John Cesana says the fox came out of nowhere. Shockingly, he came out of the attack with only some bruises and splinters.The fox never broke any skin.
"I felt just a little tugging at the back of my right leg. I looked down and a fox was holding on to my pant leg trying to chew its way up to my leg,” said Cesana.
From there, Cesana man says the situation escalated quickly. He tried to pull his pant leg away, but when that didn’t work he came at the fox with his push cart and bag; in the process of doing that he fell.
"It still attacked. I did knock it off my leg, but it tried to get back at me. I banged it with the golf bag and the cart about three times until it attacked the wheels,” said Cesana.
Cesana took that opportunity to grab his 5 wood.
"I hit it on the side and knocked it out. I started to reach into my pocket,” said Cesana. "Before I could get my hand in there, it jumped up and attacked me again."
This time he says he hit it again breaking the fox’s leg.
"It went down and it came back up and attacked me the third time. This time I hit it in the head and I had to kill it,” said Cesana.
The Director of Golf saying this was a first. And, even though this rabid fox was killed, he’s warning members and those in the community to be on alert.
"21 years, the foxes run around their pups run out here. Nothing has ever happened before,” said Chris Jurgasik.
Looking back Cesana is just thankful he was the one out there when the fox attacked.
"I’m just happy that it didn’t happen to someone who couldn’t react,” said Cesana.
Even though Cesana wasn’t bitten, he is getting treated for rabies just in case.
He’s also saying a huge thank you to the staff members at Winnapaug Golf Course who rushed to his side within minutes of his call.
We should mention, the fox tested positive for rabies Tuesday.
(C) WLNE 2017
