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Authorities, fearing an outbreak of rabies in the Yugoslav...

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Authorities, fearing an outbreak of rabies in the Yugoslav capital, declared Belgrade an infected area Friday and banned movement of dogs and cats after a rabid fox was found on a downtown street.

Belgrade radio stations broadcast warnings annd newspapers carried the front-page headline, 'Quarantine for dogs and cats.'

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'We ask all owners of cats and dogs to keep their pets at home and we urge them to start vaccinating the animals right away,' said Belgrade chief veterinary inspector Dragan Marinkovic in his radio appeal.

He said no pets are allowed to travel outside the capital and ordered the owners not to take their cats or dogs for walks.

The fox was found Tuesday morning in Francuska Street in the center of Belgrade without a tail. A veterinary inspector took the animal to a Belgrade institute where analysis showed the fox had a 'high degree of rabies.'

Police Thursday traced the man, identified as Muhamed Kasami, who brought the rabid fox into the capital and rushed him to a Belgrade hospital.

Police also asked all those who were in contact with the fox to report to hospitals for medical checkups.

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Police said Kasami accidentally hit the fox with his truck early Monday at a village outside the capital and placed the animal in his vehicle.

The next morning, apparently thinking the fox was dead, Kasami threw it into the street. The fox, however, was alive and began to walk through the streets.

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