Suspected rabid jackals attack campers leaving 11 injured including child bitten on face

An unusual overnight incident on Saturday at the Sea of Galilee left 11 campers injured after being attacked and bitten by jackals near Duga Beach.

Magen David Adom received a call at 2:52 a.m. and dispatched medical teams to the scene.

Several of the injured patients including a 12-year-old girl two men in their 30s and a woman in her 40s were evacuated to the Baruch Padeh Medical Center in Poriya with bite wounds. They were treated vaccinated and released.

Two others were treated on site and did not require hospital transport.

'My daughter was bitten on her face'

Elena the mother of 12-year-old Alice described the frightening incident in which her daughter was bitten in the face by a jackal. “We were all sleeping in the tent when suddenly in the middle of the night my daughter Alice screamed ‘It hurts! It hurts!’ I quickly turned on the light and her entire face was covered in blood. I was terrified” she said.

“I saw the animal that bit her. I saw it clearly. It was big - enormous in fact. They said there were five jackals on the beach and many people had already been injured by them. Unfortunately my daughter's injuries were the most severe. Others were bitten slightly on the leg but her face was severely affected.”

“We were evacuated by ambulance to the hospital where they gave her four injections and three stitches on her face. Now that we have been discharged we came back to the beach to collect our things and we are trying to calm down a bit but she is terrified and traumatized.”

“It breaks my heart because in less than a month on July 7 she has her bat mitzvah. And just a few days before that on June 19 she has her school graduation ceremony. I really hope she feels better and that this trauma passes before her bat mitzvah.”

Rabies concerns raised by officials

Officials said the animals' behavior was atypical and raised suspicion that the jackals involved may have been infected with rabies.

Dr. Noa Shacham Hadari head of the emergency department at the hospital said anyone bitten or in contact with a wild animal must seek immediate medical treatment and vaccination and warned the public to avoid contact with stray animals and wildlife.

The Health Ministry reported that there have been 66 cases of rabies exposure in animals this year. Out of these cases dogs are the most frequently reported accounting for 37 instances followed by jackals which account for 19 cases. In a public statement regarding the recent incident the Ministry noted that the animals have not yet been captured.

Authorities urged the public to avoid feeding or approaching wildlife and to seek immediate medical attention after any bite or suspected exposure.

The Kinneret Cities Association said it is taking the incident very seriously and called for increased enforcement and monitoring of the jackal population in the area during the summer season.