Bobcat attacks couple during
morning walk, family says
Sun Sentinel [Fort Lauderdale, FL],
by
Andrew Boryga
&
Wayne K. Roustan*
Original Article
Posted By: Hazymac,
10/6/2019 12:03:07 PM
Down the couple’s neighborhood came a creature of the unexpected kind. It jumped out from behind a parked car and started attacking them. Then the animal, which they believe is a wild bobcat, vanished.
Nearly every morning for the past 19 years, Rupert Fray, 71, and his wife, Eslyn Fray, 85, have started their day about 5 a.m. with a 30-minute walk around The Greens of Inverarry apartment complex in Lauderhill — a gated 55-and-over community wedged between two intricately landscaped 36-hole golf courses. But about 5 a.m. Friday, their walk was interrupted by what they believe was a dark bobcat. It attacked Eslyn, ripping off the tip of her
Reply 1 - Posted by:
earlybird 10/6/2019 12:18:11 PM (No. 199258)
This article goes "own and own and own”, trying to figure out whether it was indeed a bobcat, when:
Howard Fray, Rupert’s brother, said that Eslyn is certain the animal was a bobcat because she had seen one two years earlier, when a different bobcat was captured from the complex after taking refuge in a tree. He said that the color of the cat, which she described as a mixture of dark gray and brown, was similar to the color of the cat captured two years earlier. The size was similar, too.
If Eslyn has seen a bobcat and there has been a bobcat on the property in the past, then, by golly, it was a bobcat.
(Three reporters to write this?)
9 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DVC 10/6/2019 12:53:10 PM (No. 199301)
Very untypical bobcat behavior. I'd worry about it being rabid. No sane bobcat is going to imagine that a human is a meal, and 99.99% of the time, they will hear you and disappear before you ever even see it.
15 people like this.
Bobcat sightings in Florida are very common. They are everywhere. Check out this photo of one pulling a shark out of the ocean at Sebastian Inlet State Park. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/environment/sharks/2015/04/08/photographer-catches-bobcat-fishing-for-shark/25452473/
1 person likes this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
DVC 10/6/2019 2:12:14 PM (No. 199385)
One other consideration. People illegally and legally bring various medium sized exotic cats into the country as pets. They imagine that an ocelot, serval, caracal or other similar cats will be just like a domestic tabby cat and frequently they are wrong, and the little beastie escapes.
Could be some oddball exotic, who expects people to feed it and has a bad attitude.
5 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
earlybird 10/6/2019 2:26:13 PM (No. 199394)
More on bobcats in Florida for the doubting:
Wildlife officials are not confirming yet that this was a bobcat attack. However, investigators were able to retrieve hairs from the scene — they’ll run tests to see if they can determine what kind of animal it was. But they do tell us bobcats are part of life in South Florida.
“They’re native to South Florida, to Florida in general,” explained FWC officer Tyson Matthews. “They’re about 2 times the size of a normal house cat, they have a bobbed tail, which is why they’re called bobcats. They have small spikes on their ears which is a tell tale sign. Spots on their bodies and their underbellies are white.”
A male bobcat weighs 20 to 30 pounds, and a female weighs between 15 and 25 pounds.
The bobcat is abundant in Florida, so it is not listed as endangered or threatened.
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2019/10/04/lauderhill-wild-animal-attack-bobcat/
This bobcat didn’t try to eat this Jamaican woman. Just nibbled here and there. If they’ll go after an alligator, a little old lady could certainly be a target for some nibbles...
0 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DVC 10/6/2019 3:08:10 PM (No. 199432)
I once was picked up when walking on a dirt road in central Fla by my Fish and Game officer friend in his jeep. Two of his sons were riding along, and I had to get in the back with one a bit younger than my age, around 17, at the time. As I got back there, the son plopped an obviously heavy, squirming gunny sack down between my legs, and said, ominously, "DON'T open the sack". OK, as a F&G officer he handled all sorts of strange stuff, so I was not real surprised. As we drove off, a gutteral growl/yowell came from the bag and below the scrunched up top area which I was holding with both hands, claws came through the burlap.....and I spread my legs wider, and my eyes got wider, too.
"What the heck is in here?!" I said, and they all laughed, and again said, unnecessarily at that point, "Don't open the sack!". After a few more minutes of laughter at my expense, they said it was a bobcat that someone had accidentally caught in a Havaheart trap and was scared to release, so they called F&G, and my friend put it in a gunny sack and was taking it to release it away from homes.
So, yeah, I know bobcats have been in Fla forever, that was in the late 60s.
OTOH, if the cat was a bobcat and wasn't cornered or rabid, I don't see it going after people.
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 10/7/2019 1:44:46 PM (No. 200276)
A close encounter with a cougar ,on a motorcycle/hammock camping trip, 12 years ago compelled me to finally take advantage of Concealed Carry laws that had recently passed in our state.
Makes for WAY better slumber in my Hennessy , these days. Not to mention times when I can't avoid going to/through big cities.
0 people like this.
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*and Amy Beth Bennett........... Inverarry is where the old PGA Tour Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic used to be held forty and more years ago. Lots of sylvan acreage where bobcats might be found. These cats weigh up to 40 pounds, and could probably kill a person, if so inclined. (Bobcats usually avoid real people, generally preferring smaller Schiff-sized vermin. That's a good thing.)