A fox foaming at the mouth bit a woman at an industrial park in Egg Harbor City on Friday. Separately, a foaming fox was spotted in a nearby neighborhood, where a retired Atlantic City police officer cornered it with nothing more than his car and a long pole skimmer net. Michael Heath held the animal down for 45 minutes until animal control arrived to take it away.
The attack happened at an industrial park in Egg Harbor City, according to WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM, when the fox bit the mother of one of Heath's coworkers on the leg. The woman has since begun the rabies post-exposure treatment protocol, receiving the first seven of 14 total shots, per the station's report. Separately, word of the fox in the Forest View Court neighborhood spread after a neighbor sent text messages warning residents, a tip that reached Heath through what the station describes as a neighborhood watch connection.
Heath, who says he earned the nickname “the hero” more than 30 years ago, had just come home from work when he arrived in the neighborhood and spotted the animal. He told the station the fox was staring at him and foaming at the mouth, clear signs that something was seriously wrong with it. Rather than wait for professional help, Heath said he drove his vehicle toward the fox, then grabbed a long pole skimmer net and moved in.
A Tense Standoff With a Sick Animal
The fox fought back hard, trying to chew through the net in an apparent effort to bite its captor, according to the same account. Heath said he understood the danger but restrained the animal anyway, holding it in place for 45 minutes until officials arrived. He was able to capture the fox without injuring it, and animal control ultimately took the animal away, per the station's report.
The daylight encounter fits a pattern local health officials have already been tracking this year. Atlantic County had confirmed two wildlife rabies cases before the fox capture — a raccoon in January and a groundhog that attacked a homeowner in July, both in neighboring Mullica Township, according to The Press of Atlantic City. Statewide, wild animals account for more than 90 percent of reported rabies cases, per the New Jersey Department of Health. According to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Fish and Game Council meeting minutes, a Health Department update said rabies was running about the same as in previous years, with Hunterdon County in the lead.
Why South Jersey Keeps Seeing These Cases
Researchers who examined 35 years of statewide rabies data, from 1989 through 2023, identified southeastern New Jersey as a statistically significant hotspot for rabies in foxes and raccoons, according to a study published on PMC that analyzed 9,637 cases across the state. Egg Harbor Township itself has a history with the disease: in March 2022, three separate skunks tested positive within weeks of each other, including one that attacked a resident's pet pig, as reported by Patch. Atlantic County recorded 11 total rabies cases that year, the outlet noted.
The Egg Harbor Township Nature Reserve is a 220-acre sanctuary woven into a residential neighborhood, with six miles of trails and a lake that draw hikers and pet owners, according to Trailforks. Pets visiting the reserve are required to stay on leashes. It is not yet known whether any pets in the Forest View Court area had undisclosed exposure to the fox before Heath captured it.
What Happens Next for the Fox and the Victim
Officials have not confirmed that the captured fox actually has rabies. Under New Jersey law, that determination can only come after laboratory testing of the animal's brain tissue using direct fluorescent antibody testing, according to the state health department. Until those results come back, the diagnosis remains a strong suspicion based on the animal's symptoms rather than an official finding.
According to the New Jersey Department of Health's Communicable Disease Service, local health departments may arrange for testing or confinement of animals when a suspect rabid animal is available.
For the bite victim, the science is more settled. Current CDC guidelines call for thorough wound washing, a dose of human rabies immune globulin, and a four-dose vaccine series for anyone without prior vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prompt treatment before symptoms appear is nearly 100 percent effective, the agency notes, even though rabies remains almost universally fatal once clinical symptoms set in.
Protecting Pets Amid a Statewide Pattern
Residents worried about their own animals have options close to home. The Atlantic County Animal Shelter in Pleasantville runs free monthly rabies vaccination clinics for dogs and cats by appointment, according to Atlantic County. Local ordinances require all dogs and cats to maintain current rabies vaccinations, so owners should keep their animals' vaccinations current. An exposed pet pig can face six months of strict confinement under state guidelines described by Patch.
The available reporting here does not establish a rabid fox in Bridgewater in May 2026. The available reporting also does not establish a separate mystery-bites incident at a Lebanon park earlier this month. For now, Egg Harbor Township residents are left waiting on lab results from Trenton, and on word of whether officials will step up warnings or vaccination outreach following the encounter at Forest View Court.
