Where Have All the Rabid Foxes Gone?

Borough officials said today that foxes spotted around town by many residents toward the early part of the year have not been seen in quite some time. At least one of the foxes, which was killed by borough police, was rabid.

"The calls, the concerns from the public and all, it started rapidly and it just stopped immediately," said borough Environmental Health Specialist Bill Faitoute. "We've had no calls. Everything has been quiet."

The troubles began Christmas Eve when a fox bit a boy on Inwood Circle. The same fox then bit a man on Edgehill Avenue on Christmas Day.

After the incident on Edgehill Avenue, the animal was shot and killed by borough police. Its remains were taken to Trenton, where it tested positive for rabies. The positive test prompted the police department to make automatic calls to borough residents to make sure they were aware of the situation.

People continued to report fox sightings to borough police, and police eventually shot and killed another fox on Jan. 18 after it had been exhibiting strange behavior. Tests, however, showed that fox had not had rabies.

A resident later spotted a fox in the Town Square parking lot on Feb. 18 and took a photo, but the fox had departed the scene before police arrived.

But that was one of the last times a fox was seen publicly in the borough. No significant fox-related reports have been made to borough police for quite some time, according to Detective/Sgt. Mike Bochniak.

"We haven't been getting calls," he said.

Faitoute said that the fox population might have decreased since January.

"Maybe it's reduced so much in size because the rabies was in the fox family," he said. "It can be devastating, not only in one little family, but it spreads throughout the fox population or the skunk population, as is often the case.

"It does a job on these specific species of animal," he continued, "because you know how they horse around with each other. The young ones fight and play with each other [and spread the disease]."

Faitoute also said the raccoon population in Chatham, once significant, has been mostly wiped out after a rabies outbreak several years ago.

Residents, however, had reported seeing raccoons around town exhibiting strange behavior around the same time that many of the foxes were being seen. But calls to the police department about the raccoons have also dwindled significantly.