An unusually aggressive bobcat has attacked two children and two dogs in northeast Georgia – and officials are warning that the wild animal may still be in the area.
The separate attacks on the children happened within half an hour of each other around 6:30 Friday afternoon in Winterville, a rural community east of Athens.
One of the victims, a three-year-old girl named Crystal, was playing outside her home when the cat pounced, her shocked family told WSB-TV.
“The cat dragged her under the car,” said Crystal’s grandfather, Michael Scoggins. “My daughter came out and held the baby as soon as he got there.”
Their family dog also helped with the rescue.
“He just fell on the ground and I saw my dog and a bob cat run out from under the car,” said 13-year-old Mae Scoggins.
Crystal was left with deep bite wounds and broken bones on her hands, the family said, along with claw marks on her body. He was taken to hospital in stable condition.
Crystal, 3, was covered in blood from the attack but was in high spirits after being taken to hospital
“It could have been worse. If it wasn’t for our dog, the cat would have gone up to his neck,” Scoggins said, referring to the bobcat’s preferred method of killing by biting its prey on the neck.
The family estimates the cat to be about 50 pounds. Minutes later, a teenage boy was attacked by the rogue cat, according to Oglethorpe County EMS.
“Oglethorpe is a rural county. Any animal that’s from Georgia, there’s a chance it lives here,” Oglethorpe County EMS spokesman Jason Lewis told WAGA-TV.
Officials say it is very rare for wild cats to attack humans. Crystal’s father estimated the animal weighed 50 poundsGetty Images/iStockphoto The attack on Crystal happened outside her home in Winterville, a rural community east of Athens, GeorgiaWSB-TV
“But in my 27-year career, I’ve never known a bobcat attack.”
Officials said the child received rabies treatment to be safe.
The dogs were attacked in the same area the night before, according to Oglethorpe County Fire and Rescue spokesman Cody Gibbs.
“We suspect it was the same animal that attacked them all,” Gibbs told USA Today.
“Certainly a strange set of circumstances.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
