Georgia Grandmother Takes Down Rabid Bobcat With Her Bare Hands
“They go for your jugular.”
DeDe Phillips, 46, lives in Hart County, Georgia. It’s an entirely rural area that borders South Carolina. Wildlife is abundant. That includes rabid bobcats like the one that recently attacked Phillips at her home, reports the Athens Banner-Herald.
Phillips was pretty much minding her own business in her front yard when the attack occurred, but she did have her camera in hand, so she managed to snap a shot, seen below.
Imagine having this 35 lbs bobcat attack you! Well it attacked DeDe Phillips in Hart County. You’ll hear from her on @foxcarolinanews at 4! pic.twitter.com/nh7c43VNFD
— Brandon LaVorgna (@brandonsandiego) June 15, 2018
Phillips’s father-in-law sometimes traps bobcats, so she knew she was in for trouble when she saw it—though they are among the smallest wildcats, bobcats are just as mean as a mountain lion.
It attacked, and Phillips told the Athens paper she “took it straight to the ground and started inching my hands up to its throat.”
Once she had the cat by the throat she squeezed for dear life, even as it scratched and bit. Then she said she screamed for her “daughter-in-law to call 911.”
BOBCAT VS. GRANDMA: Dede Mealor Phillips told me her first thought when a wildcat attacked “Not today. I wasn’t dying today.” Her 5-year-old granddaughter was sleeping inside her home during the life-or-death struggle in her front yard. Her interview tonight at 11pm on @cbs46 pic.twitter.com/ARH2EC9FpZ
— Kim Passoth (@KimPassoth) June 16, 2018
She ended up with a broken finger, some vicious bites, and rounds of extremely unpleasant rabies shots ahead of her.
Phillips reportedly said, “They go for your jugular . . . when they can get the vein you’re dead in a couple of minutes.”
There’s a fundraising page to help Phillips deal with medical bills—the rabies shots in particular are extremely expensive—and it’s already blown through its $20,000 goal.
Phillips is every bit as tough as the woman in Maine who took out a rabid raccoon in 2017. She’ll make it through her ordeal just fine.
Local Hart County bobcats better watch their backs.
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