Injured bobcat on US 301 in Hillsborough County [FL] bites woman trying to come to its aid

WPTV ^ | April 13, 2012 | Brad Davis,

[Daffynition]

RIVERVIEW, Fla. - An adult bobcat caused quite a scene around 8:30 Thursday morning on US 301 just south of Symmes Rd. in Riverview.

A 911 took a call from a motorist.

"People are trying to catch a bobcat in the median. A bobcat? Yea, there's a bobcat and everybody's getting out of their cars and they're trying to catch this cat," said the unidentified female driver.

[Daffynition]

Oppsie... and I thought only mountain lions would take your face off! Guess if you get close enuf....

[GeronL]

This ain’t a kittypet people.

This is a wild animal. It isn’t going to think “finally, mommy is here to make it all better”

It is injured and scared, it is scared of you too!!

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Pound for pound a Bobcat is Hell on 4 legs. I’m sorry someone got bit but stupidity is often expensive.

[WKUHilltopper]

Trying to capture a wild, wounded animal? LOL!! Idiots have watched too many Disney movies.

[smokingfrog]

Not a smart move without the proper equipment and training.

[poobear]

She’s lucky her face is still attached. A bobcat is bad enough but an injured one will be bat crazy!

[Chunga]

My girlfriend's own indoor/outdoor housecat...one tough female...died from injuries sustained in a fight with a coyote a month ago. When my girlfriend went to try to help her after the altercation, she was attacked ferociously by her own domesticated cat.

All seriously injured animals are dangerous. Wear gloves and turtlenecks, carry blankets when coming to their aid!

[hinckley buzzard]

Happened to a friend of mine, who stopped to help an injured animal. Wild animals bite when wounded. Don't do what this woman did, or face rabies treatment as a precaution, as my friend did.

[TSgt]

My late uncle would have appreciated this story. He was the dispatcher for the local SPCA.

He would get calls all the time to send units to chase wild animals. Once a lady called and demanded that they remove the ducks from the river so they didn’t freeze.

Another lady put a small deer in the trunk of her car and then asked what she should do next.

They just yelled at him when he tried to explain that they were wild animals and to leave them alone.

[BO Stinkss]

She just made matters worse. Now the animal has to be put down to analyze it’s brain tissue for rabies.

[Islander7]

Pound for pound a Bobcat is Hell on 4 legs.

You ain't wrong!! The only critter of relatively the same size that is meaner would be a wolverine.

[albie]

She must be a liberal. Thinks/thought wild animals and humans can live together in peace and harmony.

[driftdiver]

Heck I drove thru this area at about that time and didn’t see anything. rats

[GeronL]

bump

[GladesGuru]

Grabbing a wildcat is easy - letting go is another matter entirely.

[GeronL]

As someone else said... these people have seen too many Disney movies

[az_gila]

They look cute but they are still wild animals, even when cubs...

[riverrunner]

I onc saw a women holding a car hit deer head in her lap petting it.

When the police showed up she yelled at them that truck hit it and just drove away. It as a large truck I am sure it had no damage.

She then asked the officer what he was going to do he said shoot it. She jumped up screaming no ran to her car and drove away fast.

The officer seeing deer was already dead went back to his crusier and drove away.

[2harddrive]

A boibcat can kill an adult male human. They have done it many times, esp. during the settlement of the West.

[2harddrive]

A bobcat can kill an adult male human. They have done it many times, esp. during the settlement of the West.

[FreedomPoster]

Not a Darwin event, but not for lack of trying and stupidity.

[GOYAKLA]

Hi Gal, just checking to see if you are all right?
Just thinking of you after reading this story.
Best to you.

[Jack Hydrazine]

What is it with these cat ladies? They hoard them in their houses, they try to pick up injured, wild ones, plus they feed the bears.

Colorado woman who fed bears is killed by one
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/12/nation/na-bear-attack12

Anyone remember thins headline back in February?

Ballet dancer Zina Bethune dies after being hit by two cars and dragged 600ft along road as she stopped to help wounded possum
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2100821/Zina-Bethune-dead-Former-ballet-dancer-dies-hit-2-cars-helping-possum.html

Ladies, just stay in your cars and just keep driving!

[Defiant]

Really? I have not heard any accounts of bobcat attacks. I know they fight like hell if cornered, but scratch, claw and bite, not deadly back of the neck type attacks. We used to believe that mountain lions would not attack people but now that they are no longer hunted, they will on occasion. I have never heard of an attack on a human for purposes of predation, and I have never heard of an attack being successful.

The ones around here are pretty small, but I have seen pictures of the ones from Canada, and they are quite large. I could see those kitties being dangerous.

[JRandomFreeper]

Those guys look almost like the 1/4 bobcat, 1/4 maine coon, 1/2 F4 bengal kittens that the 3rd ex and I had. Great catz, but tough as nails.

I certainly wouldn't try to pick one up if it was injured, even if I had a few spare units of blood available.

/johnny

[JRandomFreeper]

Not too smart with scared/injured domestics, either. I've been clawed and bitten by kittens rescued from a filling drain who were freaked out. No time to get gloves, they were gonna die. Wound up adopting them.

Also bitten by a dog that got his foot stuck between boards on a deck and freaked out. Wound up spraying ether into a paper grocery bag and putting over the little yapper until he calmed down enough to cover with a quilt so he could be extricated.

/johnny

[KarlInOhio]

It could have been worse. Someone could have just mailed her a bobcat at random.

[Mmogamer]

Dang even a possum will eat you alive, or a raccoon
much less a bobcat.

[Terry Mross]

One of the most beautiful animals on the planet. When I was a kid growing up in rural Arkansas bobcats were seen all the time.

Reminds me of Jerry Clower: “Wooooo! Shoot this thang!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AX9QoFhEhI

[Salamander]

Dying deer get cold.

Those Lyme-toting ticks gotta go somewhere, I reckon.

[eccentric]

"She just made matters worse. Now the animal has to be put down to analyze it’s brain tissue for rabies."

Not necessarily. I was bit by a cat that I was trying to help. The cat is now thriving with a friend and the rabies vaccinations are no big deal anymore, just three shots in the butt, several weeks apart. Hurts the wallet more.

[PowderMonkey]

"Pound for pound a Bobcat is Hell on 4 legs. I’m sorry someone got bit but stupidity is often expensive."

Oh yeah...We had a (rabid) Bobcat walk into a deer camp here a few years back, in broad daylight. It kicked the snot out of five guys before anybody could get a gun into action. Somebody managed to grab a section of 2x4 from his pickup truck, and put a stop to the beat down they were getting from the cat. They said it was like dealing with a furry run away chain saw.

[dainbramaged]

Years ago two male raccoons were in a nasty fight on the beach in front of our home - one of our guests suggested we break it up. I said go ahead, I’ll drive you to the hospital afterwards.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Experiential learning is not always pleasant. :)

[wardaddy]

People are so ignorant

Bobcats have killed toddlers

Got one on my wall....used to spit bolts

No more

[wardaddy]

People are so ignorant

Bobcats have killed toddlers

Got one on my wall....used to spit bolts

No more

[Daffynition]

Why do you have a stuffed toddler on your wall?

{sorry...couldn’t resist.....running......ducking]

[Daffynition]

Exactly.

[Daffynition]

[Daffynition]

The same is true for your own pet...if they have been injured...they may turn on you/owner.

[Daffynition]

LOL

[liberalh8ter]

That picture is begging for a caption thread.

Wur in yur backyard, waitin' for yur housecat!

[Daffynition]

Banff lynx are luckier ..they get cross-over bridges.

[driftdiver]

That looks like my neighbor!!

We used to have a florida panther around here too. It was eating a lot of the wild hogs. The panther got hit by a car too, but nobody tried to pick it up.

[PeterPrinciple]

a person that started in to carry a cat home by the tail was getting knowledge that was always going to be useful to him, and warn’t ever going to grow dim or doubtful.
-Tom Sawyer Abroad

[az_gila]

Or this one... our dumb house cat just wanted to go out and play with them...

[driftless2]

"leave them alone"

Some years ago my girlfriend's father hit an adult deer fullblast while driving down the highway. He got out of the car and said he was going to help the deer. As he neared the deer, the driver of another vehicle that had stopped after seeing the deer get hit told him to stay away from the animal. I couldn't believe it, but the deer eventually got to its feet and hobbled off the road. I thought for sure the deer had been killed outright in the collision. It's a good thing somebody shouted at my gfs pappy, or he could have gotten seriously hurt by the deer as it struggled to get up.

[Popman]

I live maybe 2 miles from that intersection....

I am very surprised a bobcat was injured there....

The area is not very rural....basically open area between housing developments ....this is not back country at all....

....and you would have to be a complete idiot or a liberal ( but. I repeat myself ) to approach a bobcat at all....

[GeronL]

cute picture!

[liberalh8ter]

LOL! That's priceless. I guess they got tired of waiting for your cat!