Burgaw couple reflects on rabid bobcat attack two years later

BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — This weekend marked two years since a bobcat attacked a Burgaw couple right outside their home.

On April 9, 2021, Kristi and Happy Wade were leaving their home in Burgaw to take their cat to the veterinarian’s office for its, coincidentally, rabies shots.

In a surveillance video that went viral online, a bobcat attacks Kristi as she’s walking to the car with her cat in a carrier case. Happy quickly runs to his wife’s side, pulling the bobcat off of her. Before tossing the cat into their front yard, Happy yells, “Oh my God, it’s a bobcat!”

“Don’t mess with my wife. That’s all I can say. Bobcat, beast, bigfoot, whatever,” Happy said. “I don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but you’re going to stop messing with her and start messing with me I can tell you that.”

Kristi ended up with more than 20 puncture wounds from the bobcat climbing her from her thigh all the way up to her neck.

“I could feel its teeth in my hand. Again, it’s just seconds. I thought to myself, this is what it feels like to be eaten alive,” Kristi said. It crawled up my back and that’s when I started to run between the cars. Of course, I’m screaming the whole way. Someone said ‘Why didn’t you let go of your cat?’ That didn’t even dawn on me. She was my girl. I wasn’t going to let go of her.”

The cat did not get hurt during the attack but has since passed away.

Even though the two were bitten and scratched by the bobcat, Happy says it didn’t change their love for animals, whether they be domestic or wild — including bobcats.

“This was out of their nature. I told her from the second I could talk to her, I said we’re going that bobcat had rabies,” Happy said.

After Happy threw the animal into their yard, it turned back towards the house and that’s when Happy made the decision to shoot the bobcat. Before making its way to the Wade’s house, it had attacked one of their neighbors and Happy says it was headed for another when he made the decision to shoot it. Animal control later confirmed the bobcat did in fact have rabies.

Kristi and Happy had to get more than 30 shots each in addition to the rabies vaccine.

While at the time it wasn’t funny, the two say they can now look back on it with some humor.

“I teasingly said [to the vet], when my pets get vaccinations they get a tag to wear and I don’t have anything to show for it,” Krisi said. “When we finally got [our cat] there, they had made us tags.”

From walking around town to talking with people at their jobs, the two occasionally get recognized as the bobcat people from Burgaw. Recently, the couple was recognized by the director of a cruise they were on during a game.

“Love and marriage, that’s what it’s called. He said, ‘So, you’re who now?’ And I said, ‘Happy from Burgaw, North Carolina’ and he says ‘Oh, you’ve got a pretty famous video out there don’t ya?’ And said, ‘Oh yes sir,” Happy said.

Two years later, the scratches and scars remain as a reminder of the wild morning. Through it all, the two are grateful for one another.

“Our pastor is a big superhero Marvel fan. We told him we’d come up with a new superhero. He said, oh yeah? Bobcat Wife Guy. It hasn’t taken off yet, but he’s my superhero,” Kristi said.

While the incident going viral was not something they planned on or even wanted, they hope the viral video of the attack serves as a reminder about the importance of pet vaccinations.

“That’s, to us, was the most important about the whole thing was making sure people understand how important it is to get their pets vaccinated because I don’t think we can eliminate rabies but if we can retard to the point where it’s very rare, we’ll keep people from getting attacked by animals with rabies,” Happy said.