Rabid fox.

Five-year-old Rayshun McDowell, along with six other children, was enjoying a cookout outside his family's home in Kingstown, North Carolina, on July 1, when, suddenly, a fox intruded upon the gathering.

"I looked out the window and Rayshun had the fox by the neck and was pushing it into the ground," his mother, Shinda Linder, told the Charlotte Observer. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing."

In the process, young Rayshun received a bite on his leg from the wild animal--which turned out to be rabid.

Rayshun's stepfather, Ryan Thompson, pulled the boy off the fox and kicked it. A neighbor fired a handgun three times at the crazed animal but, like a creature in a horror movie, it continued to attack. Finally, Thompson, who had one leg in a cast and was on crutches because of a broken leg, used one of his crutches and a stick to beat the fox to death.

Rayshun's explanation for his brave actions was simple: "I wanted to protect my little brother."

"Rayshun was really calm and wasn't upset," observed his mother. "I couldn't believe he would do something like that. He was so brave, and I was a wreck."

"I definitely wouldn't advise anyone else to react the way the young boy did, because of the dangers," said Sam Lockridge, a Cleveland County health official. "But that shows a lot of heart, and it's a good thing he reacted that way and helped those other children."

Because of the animal bite, brave little Rayshun had to undergo treatment for rabies.