BROOKFIELD, Mass., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts man attacked by a bobcat in his garage was being treated for the possibility of rabies, along with his wife and nephew, officials said.
Roger Mundell Jr. entered his garage at his Brookfield home Sunday, heard a hiss behind his wife's car and the animal lunged at him, The Boston Globe reported.
"It was on me in a split second," Mundell said. "I have bite marks in my eyelid, up my forehead. It scratched my back. I was bleeding like crazy."
Mundell and his 15-year-old nephew, who suffered some scratches, were able to pin the animal to the ground and shoot it in the head.
Mundell's wife was not bitten but got the bobcat's blood on her hands after the animal was shot.
The bobcat was collected by authorities to be tested for rabies.
"This is completely out of character for a bobcat, even to be in the garage in the first place," said Tom French, assistant director for the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. "It is completely consistent with an animal that may have rabies."
Mundell said bobcats are not an unusual sight near his home but he has never had a problem with one before
He said he was thankful he was the one who entered the garage first.
"It would have killed my wife," he said. "I know it would have."
