The aggressive bobcat eventually latched on to Steve Verschoor as he tried to stop the animal.
A shocking video shows a man frantically trying to fight off a bobcat that clamped down of his hand in Arizona.
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“Fighting it with my bare hands was probably not the best decision,” said Steve Verschoor, of Anthem.
Verschoor says he was on his way to buy a newspaper Sunday morning when he saw the wild animal attacking a pedestrian and a German shepherd.
When he saw this, Verschoor said he left his vehicle and ran over to help, leaving his car door open.
“I had flip flops on so I couldn't kick the cat, so I just started punching and punching and punching, trying to dislodge the cat [off the dog]," he said.
The creature then attacked the dog’s face. That's when Verschoor grabbed the cat’s paw.
But once he pulled the paw off the dog, the animal latched on to him, sinking its teeth into the man's skin.
After desperately trying to swing the bobcat off his hand, Verschoor said the animal eventually loosened its grip and scampered away into a storm drain. It was later shot dead by a deputy sheriff.
Read: Toddler Hospitalized After Being Attacked by Dog While Playing Outside: 'He's Very Shaken'
An autopsy on the bobcat revealed that the animal had rabies.
Vershchoor suffered a fractured thumb and deep cuts in one hand, and scratches in the other arm. He now has to be treated for rabies.
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