Bobcat Attacks Georgia Toddler Girl and Teen Boy

A bobcat, possibly suffering with rabies, is still on the loose in a Georgia county after it attacked a 3-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy.

Oglethorpe County Fire & Rescue says the aggressive bobcat attacked the children in two separate instances about a quarter-mile apart, in the area of Melton Road and Williams McCurley Road in Winterville.

Mae Scoggins says she saw the bobcat attack her 3-year-old niece, Crystal Yamasato, while they were playing in the family’s front yard around 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 6, 2023.

"It came from that direction and ran out. It jumped on her pretty much. My thought was that it had rabies because it was daylight outside, and they don't do that," the victim's aunt told Fox 5.

According to the witnesses, the bobcat bit the child and pulled her under a car.

"She had a bunch of scratches all over her arms. She had two holes right here where it bit her, which caused a fracture in her finger, and she had a pretty decent-sized hole in her back," Scoggins said.

The family’s two dogs, Kota and Bailey, jumped in to defend Yamasato, who suffered multiple bite marks on her back, arms, and hands.

"The dogs were a big part of saving her life, I think. Bailey stepped in front of her and the bobcat. Kota is the one who tried to bite at it," the victim’s aunt recalled.

According to the Oglethorpe County EMS director, the same bobcat attacked another child, approximately 14 years old, right before Yamasato’s attack.

The boy’s parents rushed him to the hospital.

"Oglethorpe is a rural county. Any animal that is native to Georgia, there is a possibility that it lives here. But in my 27-year career, I have never known of a bobcat attack," Oglethorpe County’s EMS director revealed.

Both children received non-life-threatening injuries during the attacks, but the bobcat has not been captured.