If you were out in your yard or on a walk with your dog and saw a bobcat approaching, what would you do? Turn around and go home to get a gun, just in case? Head inside and wait for it do go away? Otherwise back off and not risk getting into a fight with an apex predator?
That’s the opposite of what a Florida man did when a bobcat attacked him and his dog while on a walk. That man is named Paul Broadhurst and he was walking his daughter’s dog, named Koda, around his home in Orlando on Saturday morning. But, far from being a pleasant walk, a bobcat attacked the man and dog.
Speaking about what happened next, Broadhurst said “He [Koda] got away lucky. He was walking down the sidewalk that bobcat was just over the top of him. He no sooner got there, and I ripped him off.”
And why did Koda get “away lucky” from the attacking bobcat? Because Mr. Broadhurst jumped into action and had to punch the bobcat in the jaw as it used its claws to shred his arm. But, with a good punch in the mouth he got it to run away from him and Koda. As he told the story “The bobcat, he clawed into me pretty good, and I end up having to punch the bobcat in the mouth to get it off of me. Got it on the ground and it took off into the tree line.”
Broadhurst then added that he’d like to see the dangerous animal trapped and taken elsewhere, as it could pose a danger to those in the neighborhood, particularly the young children. In his words “This is a very high-traffic area. People walk their dogs, and have their kids, there are small kids in the area 1,2,3-year-olds and if the bobcat got on them, it would be a bad outcome.”
Fox 35 quotes a man named Frank Robb who works with a local nature conservatory as saying, when asked why the incident might have occurred “When homes get built these wild areas are being taken away you’re going to see more conflict like this with wildlife. Be aware of your surroundings and know where you live.”
Continuing, Robb went on to say that “Why it happened doesn’t matter as much as how do you keep it from happening to you? Carry something to put between you and said animal, be aware if you see something that doesn’t belong turn around and go in a different direction.”
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As with most stories, this one shows why carrying a weapon, particularly a firearm, is never a bad idea. When attacked by an apex predator, whether a human with a mind bent on some form of criminal activity or a bobcat wanting to take a bite out of your dog, a pistol with 15 hollow point rounds is a whole lot better to have than just your fists and feet.
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1