Law Enforcement and Wildlife Division staff investigated an unusual bobcat attack that occurred last week. Two bear hunters were injured by a bobcat while sitting in their pickup truck on Forest Service property in Bath County.

According to one of the victims, the bobcat came out of the woods, crossed the road and jumped up on the hood of a pickup truck next to him. The bobcat then jumped through the half-open window on the driver's side and attacked him. It bit his left ear and clawed his head before he was able to throw the bobcat on to the seat between him and a passenger. He began punching the bobcat, trying to kill it, and was bit on the elbow of his right arm. The passenger in the truck opened the door and got out of the truck, leaving the door open. During the struggle, the animal was knocked out of the truck several times, but it jumped back into the vehicle and continued to attack. The last time the bobcat was knocked out of the vehicle, it began to pursue the other man, who was standing on the road. The man ran and fell and was bitten in the upper leg.

Finally, the men were able to pin the bobcat down and shoot it with a pistol.The hunters then traveled to a local hospital and were treated for their injuries. The driver of the truck received 9 stitches in his scalp. The other man was treated for a minor bite wound. The bobcat tested positive for rabies by the Bath County Health Department. Both men are currently receiving a series of post-exposure rabies shots. This type of attack is rare but has occurred previously in Virginia and in other states.

This is the 22nd confirmed case of rabies in bobcats since 1999.

Wow! That would suck! Wear did you hear this at?

I was about to say.....had to be rabies.
That's scary stuff. 22 doesn't seem like a HUGE number for that span of years....but, it kinda is a big number, considering that it should seem to be much smaller than that. You don't typically think "bobcat" when you think "rabies".
or..lol..I don't anyway.

I just copied and pasted that from another forum that I go to.

Wow, that's really a strange sounding one. I might be more worried about the tetanus shots than the bite. I stepped on a sand shark accidently that I had caught about an hour earlier while surf fishing in Florida. It was a little one, about 7 lbs. He bit me on the heel, drawing quite a bit of blood. The doctor gave me a tetanus shot. Strange thing is the shark bite never bothered me, but the tetanus shot made me break out in a cold sweat for over a day, painful sucker to boot. We have very few bobcats this far north. Mainly we have their slightly smaller cousin the lynx. He's also an ill tempered rascal, but I don't know of anyone actually bitten by one. Sounds like the bobcat in this case was on steroids if not rabid. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal