Woman stops to help bobcat, gets bitten

By Hum
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Grand Master

Hum

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RIVERVIEW, FL -- Authorities say an injured bobcat bit a woman who stopped to help it along U.S. 301 near Tampa.

Florida wildlife officials say the woman stopped in Riverview, Thursday morning to cover the animal with a towel. Agency spokesman Gary Morse says the bobcat then "rose up and bit her."

The Tampa Bay Times reports the animal is now is the custody of Hillsborough County Animal Rescue.

Morse says the animal will be tested because it bit someone, but it was unclear whether it will be put down.

He says people should not handle sick or injured wildlife. Instead, they should call animal experts for help.

Grand Master

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Bobcats are not something to be messed with :o

http://xkcd.com/325/

She's seen too many My Little Pony episodes and thought she could ease up to it, remove a thorn from its paw, and then it would be all sweet and lick her and cuddle, amirite?

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Grand Master

DocM

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Bobcats are not something to be messed with :o

She's seen too many My Little Pony episodes and thought she could ease up to it, remove a thorn from its paw, and then it would be all sweet and lick her and cuddle, amirite?

ABSOLUTELY TRUE!!

Bobcats can be nasty to start with, and when injured any wild animal gets even worse. Then there is that a large bobcat's weight bumps up against the lower end of a mountain lions weight range (27-30 kg) and you can have a damned formidible critter.

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BillyJack

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People don't realize to leave the wild animals to survive on their own and when they help the animal it does no good. For example. If there is an injured coyote and you feel bad so you feed it then it will start coming around humans for food. Then they will euthanize the animal. Always leave the wild animal alone or call professionals.

Grand Master

DocM

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Yup - people forget the other names for coyotes: prairie wolf or American jackal, as in don't f*** with them. The problem is many ignorant-of-wildlife people mistake them for stray dogs. Big mistake as coyotes will wander into suburbs, and even cities, and set up housekeeping. We hear their night time howls all the nime, and they've been filmed in downtown Detroit.

Grand Master

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People don't realize to leave the wild animals to survive on their own and when they help the animal it does no good. For example. If there is an injured coyote and you feel bad so you feed it then it will start coming around humans for food. Then they will euthanize the animal. Always leave the wild animal alone or call professionals.

And I know this is SUCH a foreign concept to some people, but in nature, sh** happens. Animals get hurt or sick and die, creatures eat one another, that's just how the world works. You can't save them all, nor should you really try too much as it's just interfering with the whole cycle. (Exceptions are animals who are endangered due to human influence, and of course we're going to do more for our pets, but those are domesticated and aren't part of that "ecosystem" as such anyway.) I know the hippie set who seems to feel that nature works like it does in Disney movies will disagree with me, but... yeah.

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BillyJack

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And I know this is SUCH a foreign concept to some people, but in nature, sh** happens. Animals get hurt or sick and die, creatures eat one another, that's just how the world works. You can't save them all, nor should you really try too much as it's just interfering with the whole cycle. (Exceptions are animals who are endangered due to human influence, and of course we're going to do more for our pets, but those are domesticated and aren't part of that "ecosystem" as such anyway.) I know the hippie set who seems to feel that nature works like it does in Disney movies will disagree with me, but... yeah.

I agree

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BillyJack

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I have coyotes, foxes, black bears and racoons all over my neighborhood. There has never been a problem for the people or the animals. We just co-exist. Of course sometimes you read in the paper that a small dog disappeared. lol I live in a small city but it is still a city. Maybe its because I live less than eight miles away from a state park so that may be the reason for all of the animals. They all happen to be nocturnal too.

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matt4pack

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So cutting down their forest so we can build strip malls which forces wild animals out into populated areas where they get hit by a car on a road that cuts threw their habitat is just a part of nature? No that isn't the ecosystem or nature.

Leaving them to survive on their own would mean not interfering and causing all the problems in the first place.

Grand Master

DocM

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So cutting down their forest so we can build strip malls which forces wild animals out into populated areas where they get hit by a car on a road that cuts threw their habitat is just a part of nature?

Coyotes, bobcats, bears, raccoons, opossums etc. are extremely adaptable, not afraid one bit of humans, and wander into longstanding (as in centuries old) human habitats all the time from many miles away - strip malls, deforestation, new roads etc. most definitely not required. This is why they have to haul them out of Detroit and surrounds, which has been settled for 300 years.

Grand Master

I am Reid

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along with bears, large cats are probably one of the last things humans would ever want to come across in the wild, those are the 2 creatures we have zero chance against. Bobcats are not exactly large, but they are about the same size as a dog, but much more dangerous.

Grand Master

DocM

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^ Maybe the woman stopped, because she thought it was some type of house cat.

Your typical kitty is 3 lbs, many times smaller than a bobcat. The only domestic cat near as large is a Maine Coon, and they top out at 30 lbs, about half the size of a large male bobcat which can hit 50-60 lbs..

These things make good pets if you raise them from birth. I know a guy who owned two of them. They would ride around in the back of his truck and sit on the couch with him. Great pets!

Yes, in principle you can raise bobcat kittens as pets, but you can't fully trust them because they're still a wild animal at heart - no different than raising a wolf cub they can turn on you in a heartbeat. That's why in most states it's illegal or very tightly regulated.

"Great pets"? No. Go get a Maine Coon if you want a big kitty - they think they're dogs anyhow.

Grand Master

Hum

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The only domestic cat near as large is a Maine Coon, and they top out at 30 lbs, about half the size of a large male bobcat which can hit 50-60 lbs..

Exactly the type I was thinking of -- she may have thought it was a young Maine coon.

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