CHAPEL HILL - Wildlife control officials on Wednesday confirmed that two foxes that bit three people in Orange and Durham counties Tuesday were rabid. A third fox that was killed by dogs near Hillsborough Tuesday also had rabies, Orange County Animal Services said.

In the first attack, a young fox climbed into a fenced play yard at a Durham day care Tuesday morning and bit a 4-year-old girl.

Within hours, another fox attacked a woman outside an office building in Chapel Hill, then attacked a second woman at the same location a few hours later, biting them both.

"I'm glad it was just one more and not three more," said Orange County Animal Control Officer Michael Hess.

George Strader, a state wildlife biologist, said fox attacks are uncommon and typically indicate rabies.

"These are actually the first I've heard of this year," he said.

Hess said the fox he trapped showed signs of rabies.

"He looked like Marty Feldman," Hess said of the gray fox he caught after the Chapel Hill attacks. "That's a furious form of rabies."

Both foxes were sent to the N.C. State Laboratory for Public Health for rabies tests. The victims will need vaccines.

Even before rabies was confirmed, officials strongly suspected the disease was behind the attacks.

"All the indicators ... would say yes," Durham animal control administrator Cindy Bailey said of the likelihood of rabid foxes. "Those are not actions that a healthy fox would take. They would retreat from a child and go back in the woods."

The first attack occurred about 10 a.m. Tuesday on the playground at Westminster School for Young Children in Durham. The fox chased some children and bit one girl on the back of the leg before escaping.

Responding to a 911 call, eight Durham Animal Control officers were able to trap the animal in a large trash can.

"It angrily pulled everything that was in the trash can out," Bailey said. "I had my entire field staff out there. ... They were using the trash can to shield their bodies from the fox."

Officials said a den of fox pups believed to be the offspring of the rabid fox was had been located near the day care. The Animals Be Gone removal service was enlisted to find and trap the pups. The animal control office says the pups could carry the rabies virus.

The Chapel Hill fox also didn't shy away, even as victim Patsi Furr stomped her feet and swung her purse at it. She and two other women encountered the fox after descending an outdoor staircase into their building's parking garage around lunchtime. The fox was in a small picnic area near the parking lot and chased the women back up the long, narrow staircase, with Furr at the rear.

"She was kind of backing away because she was afraid to turn her back on him," said Denise Scarboro, another of the women. The fox nipped Furr's heel, said Chapel Hill Police Lt. Kevin Gunter.

Scarboro and the other women work for the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons.

Hess was unable to locate the animal outside Furr's building at the end of Silver Cedar Court, a cul de sac in the Timberlyne neighborhood south of Weaver Dairy Road.

About 4 p.m., the same small gray fox attacked Angela Riley on her way to a parking lot outside another ABOS building on Silver Cedar Court.

"She was trying to get it off her and she fell into the bushes," said property manager Travis Dodson, as he retrieved Riley's purse and flip-flop.

After the last attack, employees inside the building kept an eye on the fox as it hid in the bushes. A man escorted a woman to her car, gripping a furled umbrella in case of an attack.

Hess returned, and Chapel Hill Police Officer Chris Gillum pointed him toward the fox. Hess approached with a fishing-style net and a staff with a noose on the end, called a catch-pull. The fox charged out of the bushes at Hess, and he trapped it underneath the net. But the fox escaped and darted into the parking lot and under a car.

Hess followed, and the fox charged him again. This time, Hess caught him.

Scarboro and others could see the fox, about the size of a large house cat, inside Hess' net from the end of the cul de sac 200 feet away. "Woo-hoo!" they cheered.

jesse.deconto@newsobserver.com or 919-932-8760

IF YOU SEE A FOX...

To report a fox in a populated area, call animal control in Durham at 560-0630 or Orange at 942-7387.