Key was hired by the village this week to go after the animals following a series of attacks last Tuesday in which three people were bitten by one or more foxes.

A red fox was destroyed and a test for rabies came back positive, according to village police chief Mike Crippen. Officials now believe that two foxes - one gray and one red may have been involved in the attacks.

Key, of Pierstown, operates Wildlife Nuisance Control and routinely clocks 100 miles a day or more as he travels across the county dealing with nuisance animals.

He has come to know the animal well because he has been trapping fox since he was nine-years-old. "I've trapped them all my life. They're probably one of the smartest animals there is and their sense of smell is so good," he said Tuesday afternoon in the village police department where he was talking with Chief Crippen before beginning the hunt.

"A fox can smell a person's scent so I boil my traps and then dip them in wax so there is no rust. A fox can smell the rust, too," he explained.

The trap's trigger, he went on, has to be set just right. Too little or too much pressure and the fox will know. "A fox is so fast he'll pull his foot out so fast you'll miss him," he said

Key said he believes there were two separate animals; a red and a gray fox. The red fox was destroyed, but the other is still at large. One of the major concerns is that a rabid animal could return to the den and infect others.

Crippen said the village was issued a one month permit by the DEC to capture foxes in the Estli Avenue area. The state agency suggested no specific warnings or precautions for area residents, but according to Crippen, officials stated people should be careful not to do anything which would encourage the animals. Making certain they can not get to household garbage or pet food would be a good idea, he said.

The fox incident began last Tuesday, July 2, in Pat Thorpe's back yard on Estli Avenue. Thorpe said she was near the steps in her yard when a fox trotted up to her.

"It kind of brushed by my leg and grabbed my sneaker. I had to kick it repeatedly against the drainpipe to make it let go," said Thorpe.

She called the Cooperstown police at about 7:40 p.m., and her neighbor, Sgt. Joe Kenney, was on duty. By the time Kenney arrived, the fox had moved on,

"I looked for it, but it was gone," Kenney said. "I saw Pat had some scratches and told her she'd better go to the hospital and get checked out.

"It must have been about a half-hour later, when I heard from her neighbor that the fox was in their yard."

Kenney drove to Dr. Bruce Kramer's house on Estli Avenue. "When I got there I asked, 'Where's the fox?' and they said 'Right behind you!'"

Kenney ran into the house with Kramer's family and watched as the fox tried to claw its way through a screen door.

"It was very aggressive," Kramer said.

"After a while we couldn't find it," said Kenney.

"We were looking out the windows for it, and then we saw it out there."

Kenney went outside, drew his pistol, and the fox charged.

"I shot several times, and I think I hit him the first time. He went down but got back up again."

The fox escaped from Kramer's yard. Kramer and Kenney then took a patrol car out to look for it.

Later in the evening, Judi Tripp was relaxing outside her home on Lakeview Drive, reading a book, when a fox bit her first on the ankle and then on the hip, Kenney said.

The fox got away from Tripp's yard too. A while later, at Woodside Hall  an adult home in Cooperstown  a fox attacked nursing assistant Nicole Kilts.

The fox followed Kilts into Woodside Hall, where it was trapped in a room there and destroyed by Bill June, an animal control specialist, said Cooperstown Police Chief Michael Crippen.

The destroyed fox was a red fox. Kenney said the fox he fired at appeared to be a gray fox. Thorpe said she was sure she was attacked by a red fox, but red foxes often have a grayish appearance in the summer.

Crippen said there may have been two foxes on the loose Tuesday night, and he had officers combing yards Wednesday.

The three people bitten have all received rabies shots.

The dead fox was taken to Dr. Francis Fassett, a local veterinarian. He sent the remains to state health officials for rabies tests which came back positive, Crippen said.