COVINGTON, Ga., May 23 (UPI) -- A fox bit two 6-year-olds who were playing on an elementary school playground in Newton County, Ga., officials said.
The attack happened at about 11 a.m. Wednesday outside Rocky Plains Elementary School, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
"The fox came out of the woods and bit the two children," then ran back into the woods, Newton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Cortney Morris said.
"The fox charged one of the little boys," schools spokeswoman Sherri Davis-Viniard told the newspaper. "A paraprofessional was able to kick the fox to get it away from the student. Then the fox turned around and went after another child."
Davis-Viniard said the paraprofessional, whose name was not reported, kicked the fox again and it ran away.
The youngsters were taken to a local hospital and treated for possible rabies infections, Newton County Animal Control spokeswoman Teri Key-Hooson said.
Key-Hooson said the fox may have been a mother protecting her den.
"If the den could possibly be in that immediate area, then she might be protecting babies," she said of the fox. "We see domestic animals act aggressive to protect babies. There's no reason to believe a fox wouldn't act the same way."
