Wild cat wreaks havoc (Granny gets her gun)
Date: Mar 3, 2007 11:45 AM
PUBLICATION: New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal
DATE: 2007.03.03
SECTION: News
PAGE: A2
KEYWORDS: TPNEWS; TP NEWS
BYLINE: Brent Mazerolle Canadaeast News Service
WORD COUNT: 442

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Wild cat wreaks havoc; Wildlife Animal tussled with family, their dog
and sheep

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It was wild times in the Kent County this week as a grandmother named
Winnie tangled with a brazen bobcat.

Throw in a border collie, a barn cat, a broomstick, some firearms and a
child reading Little House on the Prairie and you just know you’ve got
the makings of a good old yarn.

On Thursday afternoon, Winnie Wilson and her granddaughter Mackenzie
Wilson were spending some quiet time together at Winnie’s farmhouse on
the Zion Church Road, about an hour north of Moncton.

Little Mackenzie was reading Little House on the Prairie to her
grandmother, known as Poohie to her 18 grandchildren.

The Grade 2 student was reading a dramatic passage when suddenly the
family’s border collie starting barking like a wild animal. Alerted by
the unusual barking, Winnie looked out the kitchen window and realized
her dog, still a pup, was barking at a bobcat that was trying to eat one
of the family’s barn cats.

The 66-year-old grandmother immediately grabbed an old broom handle and
raced out into the yard to confront the beast and save the family cat.

When she whacked the bobcat with the broom handle, the barn cat did
indeed make his escape. But, the bobcat, an animal which normally would
have disappeared without a trace in such circumstances, instead turned
to confront the frightening and frightened two-legged creature.

Winnie kept on wildly swinging her broomstick.

Fortunately for the dog, the barn cat and Winnie, the wild cat turned
its attention to other things.

Unfortunately for the sheep the Wilsons’ raise on their farm, they were
the “other things.”

At this point, Winnie went inside to call her daughter-in-law Lisa.

Lisa went into the woods behind her home to get her husband Mark and
Winnie’s husband Fred, who were out there cutting timber.

Before Fred could make it home, Winnie went back outside to check on the
sheep and look for the barn cat. The kitty was nowhere to be seen.

Winnie was relieved to see no signs that any blood had been spilled by
any of the family’s animals. Her relief was quickly forgotten when she
came face-to- face with the wild cat yet again.

It was time for a strategic retreat and a bit of arms escalation.

The next time the grandmother came through the back door she had ditched
the broomstick and loaded a gun.

This time though, it appeared the bobcat had made a strategic retreat of
its own. It was nowhere to be found, though the sheep still seemed
spooked.

Fred would later confront the animal as it emerged from beneath an old
outbuilding in the farmyard and dispatch it with a shot between the
eyes.

“It didn’t look like he was going to move on,” Winnie said.

The Wilsons’ guessed the animal’s unusually bold and aggressive
behaviour must be caused by sickness. However, a forest ranger they
contacted said this time of year is when last year’s litters are
abandoned by their mothers, who are preparing to give birth to new
litters. A young cat, inexperienced in hunting, would find a house pet
easy prey and might not have yet developed a fear of humans, their
broomsticks, and their rifles.

“It all happened so fast,” Winnie said. “When I had time to think
about
it later I realized it was foolish,” to risk her safety.

“But I couldn’t just stand there and watch.”

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !