okay now this is uh this is going to be exciting because this is a real life story and what we know
about real life stories is we may learn something from one real life that could apply to our real
life our first guest recently survived a harrowing encounter with a rabid Fox Rabbi Fox no isn't that
terrible he should be really disbarred no never mind uh please welcome Michelle felicetta L thank
you good to have you here you're from uh where in Arizona Chino Valley Arizona man is that near uh
Phoenix H actually it's about 2 hours north of Phoenix 2 hours north of Phoenix so what else
is up there is that near the Grand Canyon it's a little bit south of the Grand Canyon right about
smack dab in the middle and you know I heard about this on the radio a couple of weeks ago and I just
thought whoa my God because they were saying woman's out out running jogging attacked by a
rabid Fox and and has to run with the fox bitten into you uh back to where you left your car and
then you had to go to get some medical help te tell us exactly the circumstances of what this
is well I was on my normal Jog and uh going down a little canyon and about a little over a mile
into it Fox came out from the left- hand side it almost ran to meet me on the trail it was a little
bit ahead of me now had you seen Wildlife before on your run oh yeah I see him all the time and
and most of the time you know you just be quiet and mind mind your own business and they go right
along so this uh Fox came and it stopped right in front of me on the Trail and you know I thought it
was really bizarre so I was just quiet stopped and it slowly like made eye contact and slowly
started walking towards me and I knew something was definitely wrong when that happened so um as
it got closer I was like okay this is bad it's probably a rabbit animal I need to get out of
the situation so I slowly went to back up as I STI back took a step backward lunged at my left foot
and and actually clamp down bit onto your foot is that cor yeah my big toe yeah so people know
exactly what we're talking about this is about the animal there it's it's a red desert fox is
that what they're called and uh they're they look I guess harmless by and large I don't know and
generally speaking generally speaking they would have left you alone oh they they wouldn't have
even gotten near me okay so now what do you do you got the fox biting your foot and you're a mile
from your car yeah so it goes after the big toad it's you know going after it and uh painful must
have been very painful oh I by that time it was just I was in shock so I wasn't feeling anything
but uh I kicked it off um I think I brushed it with my hand it bit my fingernail off and uh I
got it off and as soon as I saw the blood on the foot I knew I probably it's is obviously a rabbit
animal I need to go get help and as I'm thinking this it comes back after right above my left knee
just lunges on your uh upper knee coming for my knee and so it had just broken the skin and at
that time I I grabbed the back of its neck and uh so you you grab the animal and pulling it off your
leg and it was it dug in when you pulled it off it had just broken the skin oh gosh yeah but but the
but the idea of now you've been attacked twice and now you're reaching down there to grab the animal
that that must have been you you probably we didn't really have chance to think that over but
normally you wouldn't be grabbing a wild animal would you well well I knew it had to I had to
stop it from attacking me I needed to confine the animal to take it in for testing and I had to get
to the hospital so there no you left you no choice yeah okay so now you've got the Animal by the the
scruff for the neck got it by the neck so I got it like this it starts thrashing around like this
and uh it somehow went over and just bit my arm just like that this is awful got me real good yeah
and and were any of these really deep puncture wounds the the one in my arm the arm very deep he
got it right around the muscle and just held on as tight as he could oh my God uh then what do you do
well um for a moment I almost decided to pull him off but he he was on there so hard he had such
a good bite that I knew that uh after trying once to tug him off if I really panicked and
ripped him off he would have just taken a big chunk of my arm with me oh my goodness I knew I
just had to start booking it for help so now uh blood coming or it was all plugged up with his
uh coming out my foot but but he had it was just you know punct yeah uh so you say you had to take
off running is what you did yeah I just started heading out of the canyon wow and and how long I
I think I heard a mile yeah it was a little over mile mile uphill too isn't it yeah it was uphill
so uh I had a my arm out perpendicular he was hanging from here I had his neck and you know
when you run out up hill you kind of bend over a little bit so I had to pull back cuz I didn't
want him to come after my face so I'm running the whole time very awkward yeah well now that would
have been alarming to other campers and hikers don't you think that they've SE yeah I think wow
man well I I I mean courage comes to mind took a great deal of courage to do this but again you
had no choice yeah yeah what are you going to do for God's sakes now now could you if the animal
had not attacked you would you have been all right just letting it go and then gotten treatment for
yourself or you needed to bring the the animal in well I I mean if the animal had come and bit
me and ran away I wasn't going to go run for it or anything like that but um when I knew that as soon
as it came back after me I knew I had to take it in for you know had to contain the animal keep it
from attacking me and take it in for testing so so you get back to the car you've run now
mile uphill with a rabid Fox clamped onto your arm and and are are you are you must have been
terrified right you're frightened or oh I was in I was pumped full of adrenaline I was just
yeah yeah and and what is the animal doing while you're running you know well I had a pretty good
hold on his neck so he he wasn't moving around too much you're you're tough honest honest to God this
well get back to the car now that's you okay sure so you're at the car but the problem's not
solved at all is it not at all so I was wearing a sweatshirt so he had bitten through the sweatshirt
and by the time I got up to the parking lot he was tired enough that I was able to take him
out of the Flesh of my arm um I his two bottom teeth I had pinned up through the sweatshirt I
held it held his neck in my left hand pinned it up at an angle so he couldn't move around
and then I unzipped my hoodie swung it around me wrapped him up in the sweatshirt threw him
in the trunk wow this uh wow you know you know that show survivor man with that guy that goes
out I mean th this makes that guy look like a student film no honest to God that's just
crazy so you were able to immobilize by wrapping him in the uh hooded sweatshir tossed him in the
in the trunk now did you have to get the keys fumble around to get the keys and all of that
well well I only run with my ignition key that's the only thing I carry on me so I had that in my
pocket and I think foxes know that I think that's why they attack Runners because uh
wow okay so now you drive to the medical center yeah started driving the hospital I there was
no self-service there so I had to wait for a while before I could call anybody good luck
I mean this just gets worse and worse by the way we have a a CBS News Recreation animated
Recreation oh dear let's take a look and tell us what we're going to see Michelle there you
are running oo moving along pretty good there's the Rabbid Fox well it's beautiful out there
in the desert oh Fox is now on your foot what's next look out be oh there it is ger
nothing left to do but just there she goes now finally we make it to the car there she goes
wow got right out of there exactly how it happened okay but the drama is not over you
get to the medical center what happens well uh on the drive you you finally called your
husband right yeah I called my husband uh he was the first one I called and the cell phone service
was cutting in and out so soon as I got him on the phone all he heard was Fox and he thought
he heard hit like I I hit a fox with a car so um I ended up hanging up because I had no Serv
then I I called back and he's like so you hit a fox with a car is the car okay you know I'm
like no bit I got bit by a fox my God anyhow so I got a phone with him he started heading down
to Prescot to meet me and I called animal control so they had somebody meet me out the hospital and
how did they get the thing out of the trunk well they came and got me while I was in the emergency
room and I was like oh well I'll take you out there you know so we walked out the parking lot
and the woman was like so it's dead right like no yeah no it's not dead she's hoping it's dead yeah
so we got out there and it it was Dusk and so it was pretty dark and so she had you know her
tools and you know big stick with the thing at the end and um I went to to open the trunk for her we
opened just a little bit and the little thing just came right out still got a little fight
in oh had some fight in him so uh shut it again kind of got ourselves together so I opened the
trunk back up she got her new in it and it slipped right out came out and just bit her right on the
elbow wow yeah wow I mean had had you done something to piss this animal I mean what
well I don't think it lik to be carrying him by the neck for over a my God uh so uh anyway now uh
so do you have to go through the rabes injections yeah yeah and are they as bad as everybody wants
you to believe they are they're they're not as bad as they used to be they've actually made a
lot of progress um the vaccine does have quite an effect on me it usually takes me about a day to
get back to normal knock you out a little bit Yeah and and where where do these animals in
the wild how did they contract the rabies well there's different carriers I I I know that the
the fox actually smelled like skunk and when I told that to animal control they they said
it probably was eating a carcass of a dead skunk that had that that makes perfect sense
oh my God and you're okay you're going to be okay uh and any Lessons Learned here I I don't
know it seemed like you did everything right I might carry a knife with me yeah what what do
you do for a living Michelle oh I work for the government work for the government well we we
have a couple of things for you I know it really maybe this would just make you feel better there's
a autograph photo of red fox there and we have a complete series of Sanford and Son there you
go there it is right there okay thank you very much well that's quite a story
I'm very I'm very proud of you what a tremendous ordeal and and way to go by
God nice job take care of yourself thank you Michelle fetta ladies and
gentlemen