Following Series Of Encounters, Family Of Foxes Has Ossining Residents On Alert
OSSINING, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Wild animals are terrorizing a Westchester County neighborhood.
An aggressive family of foxes are chasing people and their pets and what is even more worrisome is that the animals are out-foxing efforts to trap them.
Every night at 8:30 p.m. one of the foxes takes a stroll down Osage Street in Ossining, but the fox is no friend of the hound in this town. In fact, it's war.
WCBS 880's Sean Adams reports
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"I don't feel safe. You don't know when you're gonna encounter them," one homeowner told CBS 2's Amy Dardashtian on Monday night.
"I really don't wanna hit him but if he comes at me or my family or my dog I'm gonna hit him," Anthony Frugis added. "They're not scared at all. They sit there and look right at you."
A family of four foxes have invaded the block, prancing around like they own the place.
Kim Schuster said she came face to face with one while walking her dog, "Dusty."
"I turned around and it was really very close, growling and hissing at me. So I said 'We gotta run run run,'" Schuster said.
It chased her down until she tripped on her driveway and fell flat on her face.
"On my face I had five stitches, fractured my jaw, I have three fractured teeth that I need implants," Schuster said.
Schuster's husband, Ed, said more needs to be done to protect the neighborhood.
"Are we waiting for something to happen to a little kid that happened to my wife? That would be disastrous," Ed Schuster said.
The brazen animals creep deep in the woods, emerging day and night to terrorize the block. Police said they've hired a private contractor to deal with foxes.
"He's set up traps here in the woods in an attempt to trap the foxes," said Lt. James Montague, of the Ossining Police Department.
But the traps have been in the area for more than a year and so far they've neen outfoxed.
It is illegal in New York state to harm a fox. Experts suggest leaving mothballs, playing music or using an air horn to scare them off.
