Posted on 06/15/2018 2:37:02 PM PDT by sodpoodle
A rabid bobcat recently attacked a Hart County grandmother in her yard, spurring a furious battle that ended with the cat’s strangulation death.
“I thought, ‘Not today.’ There was no way I was going to die,” DeDe Phillips said Thursday as she recalled the attack that occurred June 7 at her home off Liberty Church Road.
Phillips has begun a round of rabies shots at Northeast Georgia Medical Center. She also has a broken finger, and numerous bite and claw wounds to her hands, arms, chest and legs. “I’m very lucky,” the 46-year-old woman said.
The unprovoked attack occurred about 6 p.m. She had been working on her truck that afternoon and posted a bumper sticker that read: “Women who behave rarely make history.” She planned to photograph the sticker and send it to her husband.
She walked out of the house with her cell phone. “My neighbor’s dog was barking and it drew my attention,” she said. “I saw the cat and I took a picture. The cat took two steps and was on top of me. ... It came for my face.”
Phillips grew up in the country, where her father-in-law was once a trapper of bobcats. As a result, she knew something about the animal’s behavior. “They go for your jugular ... because when they can get the vein you’re dead in a couple of minutes,” she said.
This bobcat did go for her upper body.
“It caught me slightly on my face, but I got him before he could do much damage there,” she said. “I took it straight to the ground and started inching my hands up to its throat. I knew that was the only way I was getting out of this.”
With both hands around the bobcat’s neck she began squeezing, but she never shouted for help because her 5-year-old granddaughter was in the house.
“I was scared if I screamed for help that my granddaughter would come out and I didn’t want that to happen,” she said.
“Once I got him where he wasn’t moving I started screaming for my daughter-in-law to call 911,” she said. Phillips’ son was also called after the 911 call and he showed up with a gun.
But Phillips would not release her grip on the crazed animal as she feared it might not truly be dead. She didn’t want her son to fire the gun because she was so close, so he pulled a knife.
“My son stabbed it four or five times, but it never budged so I knew it was completely dead,” she said. After Hart County deputies and an ambulance arrived,
Phillips drove herself to a hospital. She learned the next day the bobcat was rabid.
Phillips lives in a rural area near the Elbert County line and said she learned only recently a rabid skunk and rabid fox were found in the same area.
Phillips’ cousin Amy Leann Mize has set up an account in Fundly.com to raise money for Phillips medical expenses as the first round of rabies shots already have cost her $10,000. She also faces expenses for treatments to her wounds.
Reminds me of the young gal jogging (Maine?). She came across a raccoon on the trail. Daytime, and it started coming at her. She knew it must be rabid, and she couldn’t escape. She tossed her earbuds and cell phone down. It lunged at her and she stuck out her arms to try to grab it.
Well, she grabbed it, but it got it’s mouth into her hand. She couldn’t strangle it. But then she noticed her cell phone in a puddle. She got the raccoon’s head under water, still latched onto her hand and drowned it - with it clawing at her the entire time.
Yeah - she had to get the shots.
She can whip her weight in wildcats.
LOL
A gal after my own heart!
See tagline!
*evil grin*
Kin of Yours ?
PING
hell no, all dead
The Kin part is for Kanawa, PING for You.
Sorry if I confused Ya.
My wife was a Georgia Girl and she would have separated that bobcat’s head from it’s body without messing up her make up.
She had a brutal grip and you don’t mess with a Georgia Peach.
I should have been more specific.
Oh, my God! Her cell phone landed in a puddle?
LOL
Apparently!
She has my respect, believe me!
She fought cancer for over 8 years and never once complained.
I got lucky and she found me and after that I had no choice.
Once a GA Peach sets her mind to something, forget it, she will get what she wants.
Sounds like a courageous lady!
I’m so sorry she had to deal with that.
My hubby fought cancer too, and has been 8 years clear of it!
Thank you, Lord!
Like your lady, he never complained.
Guess they raise ‘em tough in Nebraska, too!
Outdoors Ping
American Badass. I hate to think about the outcome if she had been a less outdoorsy type of female person.
She gonna be sore for a while.
Cancer Fighters are a rare breed.
I am glad to hear that your hubby is clear and doing well.
I will have plenty of time to spend with my wife in heaven, if she doesn’t talk St. Peter’s ear off and tell him all of my faults. :)
I am sure she will be waiting for me and I can’t wait to see her again.
I am so very sorry for your loss.
I’m sending you a cyber hug-(((((Dacula))))))
I will keep you both in my prayers!
You will be reunited some day!
I would feel the same way as you, if I had lost him!
Take care!
She can be in charge of keeping Jim Acosta in-line.
God bless her, she’s wholly selfless. She thinks well on her feet, too.
She’s a young grandma——46-——when I saw the header I assumed she was elderly————good for her,though,I would have been paralyzed with fear.
.
Incredible story for any age. I said this after I saw she’s only 46. ;D But dang. That is so impressive on so many levels. Must of been a Trump supporter!!!
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