Bobcat still on the loose after attacking 4-year-old, 4 others, Arizona officials say

Arizona wildlife officials are on the lookout for an “aggressive” bobcat after five people — including a 4-year-old girl — were bitten at a campground on Sunday.

The bobcat attacked the victims at Shannon Campground on Mount Graham in the evening, the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Tucson said in a Twitter post Monday morning.

Those injured in the attack were taken to nearby hospitals but have since been released, the Game and Fish Department said.

State officials described the animal as still “at large” but “being sought.”

“Avoid Shannon & Snow Flat camps,” officials advised, instructing visitors to “call 623-236-7201 ASAP 24&7 if aggressive bobcat seen in Mt. Graham area.”

Wild cats are no stranger to the southeastern area of Arizona, where the attack occurred: Wildlife officials shared a photo on Twitter less than a week ago showing “a female mountain lion and her two youngsters drinking overflow from an artesian well” in a backyard south of Sabino Canyon Recreation Area.

The day before, wildlife officials shared a video recorded just outside Tucson, which showed a bobcat locked in battle with a rattlesnake, as McClatchy newsgroup reported last week.

Just last month, a mountain lion attack in Washington state injured another young child — in that case, a 4-year-old boy, McClatchy reported. But the family’s dogs were reportedly set loose and scared the wild animal off. The mountain lion in that incident was hunted down and killed, KREM reported.

In May, a wild cat thought to be a mountain lion or bobcat attacked another 4-year-old boy in Southern California, until the child’s San Diego father fought the animal off, McClatchy reported.

This story was originally published July 29, 2019 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Bobcat still on the loose after attacking 4-year-old, 4 others, Arizona officials say."