© John Moore/GettyA rescued bobcat at The Wild Animal Sanctuary on October 20, 2011, in Keenesburg, Colorado. A video of a man throwing a bobcat after it attacked his wife has been viewed more than five million times.
A dramatic video of a man throwing a bobcat has been viewed more than five million times. The video was shared on Thursday by Twitter user Sada who described the frantic scene as "a wild 46 seconds."
The incident begins when the unidentified man walks towards his car and tells a passing jogger "good morning." Seconds after this exchange, the bobcat can be seen in the distance running across the street towards the car, as spotted by an eagle-eyed Twitter user.
Moments later, a woman walks towards the car and the bobcat's yowl can be heard, followed by the woman's scream.
The bobcat attacks her from behind as she screams and runs towards her husband, who peels the bobcat off her and momentarily holds it above his head, before throwing the wild animal approximately ten feet away.
The man warns the jogger, who ran back to the scene during the commotion, of the bobcat. He also appears to say "it bit me," before saying, "I'll shoot that f*****."
Social media reports say the video was originally posted on TikTok by user @keithmcgeaux who has reportedly since been banned due to TikTok's anti-violence policy, as the man in the video is heard threatening to shoot the bobcat.
The video was viewed more than five million times on TikTok, on top of the five million views on Twitter.
TikTok user @keithmcgeaux seems to be back on the app as @keithmonistere. He says that the video was taken down and his account was banned. This Tiktok user does not appear to be the man in the video, however.
Sada, who posted the video on Twitter, has since tweeted that the man's nickname is Happy. They said that he did in fact shoot the bobcat, which turned out to have rabies, and that he and his wife have since had their rabies shots.
Although unconfirmed, the video has been linked by social media users to an incident in Pender County, North Carolina. On Monday, the Pender County Sheriff's Office said: "There has been a positive case of rabies discovered in your neighborhood.
"On April 9, 2021, a bobcat was killed in the area around Creekside Subdivision in Burgaw. It was submitted for testing at the NC State Laboratory and our department has been notified this bobcat was positive for rabies."
The sheriff's office has urged locals to ensure that their pets have been vaccinated against rabies and said: "While wildlife is more likely to be rabid than domestic animals in the United States, the amount of human contact with domestic animals greatly exceeds the amount of contact with wildlife.
"Your pets and other domestic animals can be infected when they are bitten by rabid wild animals. When 'Spillover' rabies occurs in domestic animals, the risk to human is increased. Pets are vaccinated by your veterinarian to prevent them from acquiring the disease from wildlife and thereby transmitting it to humans."
Newsweek has contacted the Pender County Sheriff's Office for comment.
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