Update: Raccoon Suspected in Park Attack Is Captured

Image: A raccoon (similar to the one shown above) bit a 75-year-old woman Wednesday on a trail at the South Run Rec Center (FCPD).

Fairfax County animal control officers have tracked down, killed and tested the raccoon suspected of biting an elderly woman Wednesday morning at the South Run Rec Center.

The animal tested positive for rabies, the Fairfax County Police Department said Friday in a statement.

The police said the 75-year-old woman was attacked Wednesday on a path near the rec center, on the Fairfax County Parkway south of Burke Lake Park.

The woman sustained bites on her leg, hands and forearms, and was treated at a local hospital. The raccoon was last seen running into South Run Park, which surrounds the recreation center.

More on Patch:

• Raccoon Bites Woman Walking in Park
• Police: Rabid Raccoon Attacks Man in Kings Park

Trails throughout the park were closed Wednesday as police and park personnel searched for the raccoon. On Wednesday evening, animal control officers responded to the report of a raccoon that was acting strangely in a neighborhood a few blocks south of the park.

The raccoon was seen vocalizing and walking in a wobbly manner at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday near a walking path at Monarch Oak Lane and Oak Hollow Lane, the police said. The site is near a creek in a subdivision off Ox Road (Route 123) in the southern part of the county.

The raccoon moved slowly, but suddenly rushed an animal control officer, who was able to capture it without injury. The raccoon was euthanized and then tested Thursday for the rabies virus, and the results came back positive.

“While authorities cannot be 100 percent certain that this is the raccoon that bit a walker on Wednesday morning, based on their calculations, they feel that there is likelihood that it is the same one,” the police said.

All trails at the South Run Rec Center, including the one where the bite occurred, have been reopened to the public.

Here’s more information from Fairfax County on the rabies virus, exposure prevention tips, and what to do if an animal bites.