Have YOU taken the rabid bobcat challenge?

[telomerase]

Not sure how I'd do...
http://www.unionleader.com/animals/...-to-defend-herself-from-rabid-bobcat-06272017

 

[mokin]

What part is the challenge, beating it off with a sickle, or shooting it twice with the shotgun?

 

[Hanzo581]

I'll take the shotgun part of the challenge in lieu of the hand to paw combat portion.

 

[RPZ]

Yet another reason to wear and handgun and a knife around the home. These and other things happen when you do not expect them at all.

Noteworthy is the need for another buzz term, "nuisance bobcats". Rather than simply keeping records in a public database; "This year X attacks on humans by bobcats were recorded". "X on pet dogs" etc. No, instead they must assign a benign term instead. A bobcat attacking anyone, adult, small child, is not merely a "nuisance".

 

[hdwhit]

How many cases of rabid bobcats have we had in the United States in the past ten years?

As I have elsewhere posted in the account of my Turkish Van cat engaging a home invader, human beings are ill-prepared, psychologically or physically, to engage a cat in armed or unarmed combat (although the cat is never "unarmed"). The cat is faster, more agile and has only about 4% the volume of a human. So, people like sworn law enforcement officers who in a stressful situation can only hit another human being 20, may 30 percent of the time are essentially defenseless against a rabid cat still early enough in the disease to be mobile.

The key is to put distance between yourself and the rabid animal and avoid getting bitten. A shotgun can help, but if the handle on the sickle is longer, it may be preferable. In the end, if you can't put a permanent barrier between yourself and a rabid cat (like making your way inside a house) you're going to have to kill it or resign yourself to taking the anti-rabies shots.

 

[hdwhit]

Hanzo581 wrote:
I'll take the shotgun part of the challenge in lieu of the hand to paw combat portion.

You don't have cats do you?

 

[RPZ]

How many cases of rabid bobcats have we had in the United States in the past ten years?

As I have elsewhere posted in the account of my Turkish Van cat engaging a home invader, human beings are ill-prepared, psychologically or physically, to engage a cat in armed or unarmed combat (although the cat is never "unarmed"). The cat is faster, more agile and has only about 4% the volume of a human. So, people like sworn law enforcement officers who in a stressful situation can only hit another human being 20, may 30 percent of the time are essentially defenseless against a rabid cat still early enough in the disease to be mobile.

The key is to put distance between yourself and the rabid animal and avoid getting bitten. A shotgun can help, but if the handle on the sickle is longer, it may be preferable. In the end, if you can't put a permanent barrier between yourself and a rabid cat (like making your way inside a house) you're going to have to kill it or resign yourself to taking the anti-rabies shots.

I recall an account by a writer, name escapes me, who described a leopard attack on a small hunting party during which the cat mauled each person in turn in an extremely short space of time. It was over in a few seconds.

A bobcat is a 30+ pound buzz saw. One claw rakes a neck artery, or hind claw gouges the femoral adjacent to the groin and your survival chances just went to almost zero. Cats are immensely strong for their size, whether common house cat, or the larger varieties. A bobcat is one that many are likely to underestimate based on apparent size.

 

[Hanzo581]

You don't have cats do you?

I do, which is why I'd prefer to shoot the rabid bobcat rather than wrestle with one.

 

[SHOOT1SAM]

The moral of this story is: "Don't mess with a former Marine (Ooo-rah!).

Sam