Security camera captures moment a man saves his wife from a rabid bobcat by flinging it across his lawn
A viral video shows the moment a man came to his wife's rescue after she was attacked by a bobcat.
The footage shows the man grabbing the bobcat with his hands before flinging it across his lawn.
The video, first posted to TikTok, had garnered over 11 million views as of Saturday.
A video trending online shows a man saving his wife from a bobcat attack by grabbing it off her with his bare hands and throwing it across his lawn.
Home security cameras captured the moment in the early morning of April 9 in the town of Burgaw, North Carolina, police confirmed on Friday.
The dramatic events begin as just another placid day in suburbia. It shows a man who has not been identified greeting a woman jogging down the street as he walks out on his driveway.
"I need to wash my car," the man says as he puts down his coffee mug on the hood and pulls out his car keys. The man's wife then appears in the video, holding a pet carrier as she tries to get into the car.
All of a sudden, a screeching bobcat appears, grabbing onto the woman's leg as she starts to scream.
The husband reacts quickly, sprinting around the car, grabbing the bobcat with his bare hands, and holding it up in the air as he shouts: "A Bobcat, a bobcat!"
He then proceeds to catapult the screaming animal a few feet across the lawn as the female jogger comes back to help.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!" the man yells at the terrified bobcat, which immediately runs underneath the car.
"I'll shoot that f---er!" the man shouts.
Watch the dramatic moment below.
-Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) April 16, 2021
The video, which was first posted to TikTok, has garnered over 11 million views as of Saturday.
Capt. James Rowell with the Pender County Sheriff's Offices said the same bobcat had attacked another person before it arrived at the house.
"It's not uncommon to see bobcats," Rowell said, according to The News & Observer. "They don't normally cause a problem - they stay away from folks."
Attacks on humans are rare but have increased in recent decades, according to a study published in the scientific journal "Ecology and Evolution" in 2019.
In a comprehensive Twitter thread, wildlife biologist Imogene Cancellare said that the bobcat looks like a "juvenile cat" that is "very unlikely to charge you."
"If it does, it may feel cornered, be protecting young, or, in rare cases, have rabies. With 1 inch claws and 1-inch canines, a bobcat attack risks deep lacerations. You'd need stitches, but it's unlikely a bobcat could kill a human," Cancellare wrote.
Officials said that they trapped the cat, and took it to the State Laboratory of Public Health in Raleigh, where they determined it did, in fact, have rabies.
"I feel bad for the bobcat in the video because he got THROWN, but we're not going to vilify the guy for protecting his wife. If I was holding a bobcat that was trying to bite me, I would absolutely throw it away from me!" Cancellare added.
She added that bobcats who test positive for rabies "will likely be euthanized."
Experts advise that if you're attacked by a bobcat, you should make loud noises, throw items at it and wave your hands in the air. Cancellare also said that keeping the bobcat away from your neck and head is important because you "could lose an eye."
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