Rating:

0.0 (0 votes)

ORACLE, AZ - A possibly rabid bobcat that bit an Oracle man Wednesday night was found dead Friday in the backyard of a home in the 500 block of North Cedar Ridge Drive.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department will transport the bobcat for testing to an Arizona Department of Health Services lab in Phoenix. Meantime, the man it bit near the intersection of North Cedar Ridge Drive and East Nuestero Street is undergoing treatment for rabies. The bite punctured the skin of the man's right thigh.

The bobcat was spotted in the neighborhood approximately 6 p.m. Thursday night but could not be located immediately afterward.

There have been 247 positive cases of rabies in animals in Arizona during 2009, mainly involving transmission by gray foxes, bats and skunks. Six cases have involved bobcats.