Massachusetts Family Treated For Rabies After Bobcat In Garage Attacks

A Massachusetts family are being treated for rabies after a man and his nephew were attacked by a bobcat.

Roger Mundell Jr. says the only warning before the attack was a solitary hiss. Less than seconds later, a bobcat pounced on him in his own garage, sinking its teeth into his face and its claws in his back.

The surprise ambush happened on Sunday morning when Mundell went to get items from his garage in Brookfield, The Associated Press reports.

After the attack, the bobcat ran out of the garage and bit Mundell’s 15-year-old nephew on his arms and back.

Mundell and his wife were eventually able to pin the bobcat to the ground, before shooting it dead.

All three family members are now being treated for rabies, including Mundell’s wife who got the animal’s blood on her.

Now State Environmental Police took the bobcat to have it tested for rabies, which they believe is likely given its unusual behavior, said the SunHerald.

According to The Encylopedia, rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals.

The disease can be transmitted from one species to another and typically occurs from a bite from an infected animal.

For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if postexposure prophylaxis is not given before the onset of severe symptoms.

Rabies, first infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death. Alarmingly, once the rabies symptoms begin to show the infection is virtually untreatable and fatal within days.