Witnesses have described the small gray animal as either a gray fox or fisher, but authorities have not confirmed the species.
LEBANON, N.H. — Police and state wildlife officials are searching for an unusually aggressive wild animal believed to have attacked three people in the Centerra Park area over roughly 36 hours, prompting warnings as authorities investigate whether the animal could be sick with rabies.
The Lebanon Police Department said the first reported attack happened Sunday, Aug. 30, near Centerra Parkway and appeared to be unprovoked. Two additional attacks believed to involve the same animal were later reported, with the most recent occurring Monday evening. Witnesses have described the animal as either a gray fox or a fisher, but police said officers have not personally encountered it and cannot confirm what species is involved.
Surveillance video from the first reported attack shows a small animal charging toward a man standing near a U-Haul truck in a parking lot. The animal can be seen going after the man’s bag and then his feet and legs as he tries to get away. The man was eventually able to drive the animal back, and it disappeared beneath the vehicle. Lebanon Police Chief Phillip Roberts told local media that the man was not seriously injured and was taken to a hospital for testing.
The other two encounters occurred only a few hundred yards from the location of the first attack, Roberts said. One was near a Marriott hotel and another in a nearby parking area. Police have released fewer details about those incidents, including the identities of the people involved. Local reporting said the three people who encountered the animal were scratched. Authorities have not publicly announced serious injuries in any of the attacks.
Police initially alerted the public Aug. 31 after receiving a report that an animal believed to be a fisher had attacked a person near Centerra Parkway. After two more incidents were reported, investigators broadened their description to include the possibility of a gray fox. The department said the animal had displayed behavior that was unusually aggressive toward people, but officials cautioned that its identity remains uncertain.
Authorities have searched the area on foot and used a police drone equipped with thermal imaging to examine the nearby wood line. As of the latest reports, those efforts had not located the animal. Roberts said police were working with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department in an effort to find the animal and determine whether it is sick.
The animal’s behavior has raised concern about rabies, although authorities have not confirmed that it is infected. Roberts said an animal repeatedly approaching, scratching or biting people can indicate that something is wrong. Lebanon police also noted that aggressive or unusual behavior can be associated with rabies, a viral disease that affects the nervous system and can spread through bites, scratches or infected saliva entering an open wound.
Police said testing the animal would require officials to first locate it. Roberts said wildlife officials had advised that trapping a rabid animal can be difficult because a sick animal may not behave normally or respond to food in the way a healthy animal would. He also said it was possible the animal could die before authorities find it if it is seriously ill. No laboratory testing had been reported as of Thursday.
The attacks have put people who work, shop and stay in the Centerra Park area on alert. The mixed commercial area includes parking lots, businesses, hotels and wooded sections where wildlife can emerge quickly. Police have asked residents, employees and visitors to remain aware of their surroundings, especially near brush and wooded areas, and to avoid approaching or attempting to capture an animal behaving strangely.
Authorities have also urged anyone bitten or scratched by a wild animal to seek prompt medical care and report the incident to police. Whether any of the three people involved in the recent encounters required rabies post-exposure treatment has not been publicly disclosed.
As of Sept. 3, Lebanon police had not announced that the animal had been captured or positively identified. The department said it would continue monitoring the Centerra Park area and coordinating with New Hampshire Fish and Game while asking that sightings of unusually aggressive wildlife be reported to authorities.
Author note: Last updated September 3, 2026.