LOWELL, Vt. -
Amy Dalpe is an animal lover, and has taken in several stray dogs and cats over the years. But what happened to her on the evening of July 17 may have her thinking twice about taking in another stray cat.
"When I got to the hospital I was covered in blood because it was facial wounds and it was dripping all over me," she said.
Amy was attacked by what can only be described as four pounds of furry fury. She and her 14-year-old son had just arrived at the Coventry Landfill, where Amy cleans the offices.
"We were driving in and there was a cat walking toward us so we parked and got out and I called to it," she said.
She had no way of even imagining what happened next.
"He just came and jumped from the ground right up and bit my lip. And I had to pull it off and I flung it as far as I could fling it, and it came right back and it jumped and bit my hand on both sides. And I flung it a third time and it came up and got my arm," she said.
Amy yelled for her son to get back into the truck, but before he could slam the door, the cat jumped into their truck, scratching her son and ripping his shorts. He was able to kick it out the door. As they drove off, the cat chased the truck.
"It was like a Stephen King episode," Amy said.
She suffered seven puncture wounds and a number of scratches. She had to have a number of shots and is on antibiotics. She and her son have to go back to the hospital for another round of shots.
The cat struck again the next day, 2 miles up the road from the landfill near the state airport. This time the victims were a dog and two men.
"It was amazing, furious, vicious; and its whole intent was to attack the whole time anything that moved," Joe Cody said.
The cat first attacked a pit bull outside the garage.
"You can actually see the lines where it hung onto her and it just hung there," Cody said.
The dog's owner tried to get the cat off the dog's back. The cat then latched onto his shoe. Joe came out with a broom to dislodge the cat.
"I struck the cat as it got to me and it slowed it down. Then it came back with a vengeance, and I hit it again and we were able to have another friend come out and hold it down with a shovel until we could put it away with a rifle," he said.
Amy's husband heard about the attack and came to Joe's Garage to see if it was the same cat that attacked his wife. It was.
That cat tested positive for rabies.
