3/26/2009 5:20:00 PM Rabid bobcat terrorizes community
Tuesday night
Photos Courtesy Mark De Bottis
After the animal was shot, the carcass was sent to a laboratory to be tested for rabies. Cottonwood Police Chief Jody Fanning reported Thursday that tests returned positive for rabies in the wild animal. All the victims with scratches or cuts from contact must now receive a series of shots to protect against infection.
A bobcat went wild in Cottonwood and attacked three people in separate locations.
About 10 p.m. Tuesday night, Ruth Ann Van Gorder left her daughter's house and turned on Fir Street. She braked hard but still hit an animal crossing the road. Worried, she got out and walked toward the cat-like animal, even though a voice from another car warned that it could be dangerous.
Ruth turned around, thinking instead about calling Game and Fish, when she heard the same voice shout a warning. As she turned, the cat was leaping at her and the weight knocked her to the ground. She said she grabbed the scruff of its neck while it was clawing for her face. Just as Ruth Ann was losing her grip, the man's large work boot kicked the animal away from her face and the bobcat ran into the brush.
In a daze and bleeding from a scrape on her nose, she climbed into her car and drove to her daughter's house, bleeding heavily from that cut on the nostril of her nose. She called police and Game and Fish, who insisted she go to the Emergency Room and get a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
She told the newspaper that she neglected to thank the kind man who intervened to keep the cat off her face.
As she was leaving the ER, another man was coming in with cuts to his face. It turns out it may have been the same bobcat.
It also may have been the same cat that ran into a woman employee of the Pizza Hut on Main Street. The cat was reported to have had a "stalking behavior." The woman was working behind the restaurant at the time when the cat ran up to her and scratched her legs before it fled across the street to the Chaparral Bar.
Mark De Bottis and friends were leaving the Chaparral, around midnight, when he heard a growl outside the front door. He said "It looked like a cat at first, but the way it growled, I knew it wasn't"
Mark jumped back through the door and the cat ran right through the door past him, first, up onto a pool table. Then the animal got off the table and kept low underneath the tables seeming to wander aimlessly.
Patrons of the bar at first jumped on bar stools and then gathered around the animal.
"It wasn't really aggressive at first, just wandering around."
Mark and his friends were taking pictures of the animal with their camera cell phones. Kyle Hicks kneeled down to take a picture about three feet from the cat, when the animal lunged at his face, grabbing him around the head. At that point, the crowd split apart. Kyle says he "punched" at the cat to get it off his head.
At some point, another man Derek Oliver was scratched on the leg by the animal.
Someone called police who arrived quickly, according to Mark. When they got to the bar, the cops called for paramedics and then could hear the animal growling beneath a car on the back lot.
After the three attacks already, the officers backed up when suddenly the cat began moving toward them, even though it had an alternate path away from humans.
Cottonwood Officer Cody Savage reported that after he shot once at the animal, "It stopped for a second and continued. I fired again and saw that it caused considerable damage to the animal but it still continued to stand. I felt the animal was capable of lunging or otherwise injuring bystanders so I fired a third time dispatching the animal."
The concrete wall around the property kept the handguns rounds from escaping the property.
Kyle went to the ER and was treated for a gash under his eye, on the nose and the back of the head, and across his sideburns. One cut tore a gash in his ear, which was "glued" back together. He says, he is thankful the bar picked up the tab for the medical expenses.
After the animal was shot, the carcass was sent to a laboratory to be tested for rabies. Cottonwood Police Chief Jody Fanning reported Thursday that tests returned positive for rabies in the wild animal. All the victims with scratches or cuts from contact must now receive a series of shots to protect against infection. The rabies virus invades the nervous system and can cause inflammation of the brain. It can be fatal if left untreated.
Spokesman Zenon Mocarski of Arizona Game and Fish urges people to be very cautious of wild animals that enter urban areas. It is unusual to see bobcats in an urban setting as in this case. "They are very elusive," says Mocarski. "They blend in well. They have good camouflage."
A cardinal rule is to avoid feeding wild animals encouraging their activity. Be especially cautious of animals that act in an unusual fashion. Report promptly any suspicious animal activity. Keep your own pets on a leash when outdoors.
The state health department has issued an advisory that the number of rabies cases, which reoccur cyclically, is up again this year, calling it an "outbreak."
Posted: Saturday, March 28, 2009
Article comment by:
A Native VERDE VALLEY Arizonan
re: "You have to be kidding" well said!! The "a native arizonan" is coming off as such an ill-informed, non-intelligent person and sounding nothing like a native Arizonan, or at least a native Verde Valley-an. I am born and raised in the Verde Valley and have never ever heard of such an extreme incident. The bobcat was rabid! Hey "a native arizonan", are you really from here? You sound like a transplant who thinks they are a local because they may have lived here for 5 years. If you feel people are infringing on our local wildlife then maybe you should donate your home to our State Wildlife officials and never go on any hikes. Think of it as "you are doing your part." Lately there has been a few cases of rabid foxes attacking people on trails, it means there is some sort of outbreak of rabies naturally occurring right now in our native wildlife outdoors.
Posted: Saturday, March 28, 2009
Article comment by:
find a new soapbox
How can anyone say it was non-aggressive when it had just attacked humans ? Get on your soapbox somewhere else. Human lives were saved. That is enough.
Posted: Saturday, March 28, 2009
Article comment by:
embarrassed
To The native arizonan. I am a true native arizonan, I was born and raised here. I am embarrassed, that you said the kinds of things you did about being embrassed by the way people infringe on wildlife. THE BOBCAT WAS RABIED. It had already attack another human. The police did THE RIGHT thing. GET A GRIP.
Posted: Friday, March 27, 2009
Article comment by:
Nan J
OMG It attacked a woman who wanted to see if it was ok. I went after a person who made no move whatsoever. a native arizonan what is wrong with you. rabies series shots are no fun and aren't taken for no reason - geez
Posted: Friday, March 27, 2009
Article comment by:
Another Native Arizonan
Re: a native arizonan.
If you are a native of Arizona you should know that a Bobcat will do practically anything to avoid human contact, especially going into a building full of humans. The descriptions of this animals conduct are nearly class book example of a rabid animal, i.e.: confusion and aggressiveness. As anyone knows that has any experience with wild life this cat’s behavior was totally out of place. Cottonwood PD, namely Officer Cody Savage, did the public a service by dispatching a dangerous animal.
Posted: Friday, March 27, 2009
Article comment by:
Officer was right
this animal had rabies, it was suffering and would have died a horrible and slow death. Regardless of whether or not it had attacked anyone the officer did it a favor. We are very fortunate to live in a place which we share with a wide variety of wildlife, but only a fool would forget that wild animals are not warm and cuddly creatures, they are not pets. Wildlife should always be treated with respect - and caution.
Posted: Friday, March 27, 2009
Article comment by:
Got what he deserved
The fool that tried to take the picture of the bobcat under the pool table got what he deserved. The animal is WILD.
Posted: Friday, March 27, 2009
Article comment by:
A Smart Native Arizonan
Re: A native Arizonan:
From what I determined, it was the bar patrons who claimed the animal was non aggressive and just wandering around. Not the police or anyone who was attacked. I am sure there was a very different opinion by those close to it after it JUMPED ON SOMEONES FACE AND NEARLY REMOVED HIS EAR!!!!!!!!!! If you know nothing of the symptoms of a rabid animal then I supposed the fact that it continued to walk toward police even after it had other means of escape that were not toward humans. By the time the police shot it THREE times to kill it, it had already attacked at least 4 people; some of them will probably have permanent scars on their faces. I think we should all be thankful that it didn't come stalking onto one of the two charter school playgrounds that are right down the road in the middle of the day. Rabid animals do not walk toward people, they do not attack people after they have been hit by a car, they do not walk into a building with people in it. That is not a normal wild animal behavior, something was wrong with it!!!! There have been three other reports (at least) in the recent past about other rabid animals. It happens, not the people's fault.
Posted: Friday, March 27, 2009
Article comment by:
You would have shot it too
I would like to know how you can say it is "non-aggressive and just wandering around" as it had already attacked one person and "stalked" another before entering the building and running wild. I am sure if you were the person it had attacked and had to go through the multiple shots and treatment for rabies you would feel differently. I also think that if you had walked out your front door and any rabid animal is "infringing" on your property and attacking your pets or your children you would have shot it too. I know I would have.
Posted: Friday, March 27, 2009
Article comment by:
You have to be kidding
Re: A Native Arizonan - I sure wish you were there so you could have shown your love towards that out of control bobcat. You maybe could have saved its life if you would have been there. Maybe you could have given it a needed hug or bought it a beer at the Chaparral Bar. I can't believe you are pulling the old "Wildlife" card out on this one. What a joke and no wonder people outside of AZ think of Native Arizonan's as low IQ people. WOW, a bobcat attacks multiple people and it's the people's fault for living there. I've heard it all, what a joke!!!
Posted: Thursday, March 26, 2009
Article comment by:
a native arizonan
ISN'T IT so convenient that you found this wild innocent animal pos for rabies who wandered into a place of establishment NON-AGGRESIVE AND JUST WANDERING AROUND AS THE REPORTER SAID BUT YOU SHOT IT ANY WAY. as a native arizonan, i am embarassed for the way you infringe on wildlife by living so close to it but get upset when you ultimately encounter it. you ought to be ashamed!!!live somewhere else if you don't want to encounter wildlife in your life time!!!move away so that others can enjoy what's left of our state without people who have no healthy respect for our native wildlife and the outdoors!
