badass old woman

i read this article Tuesday in the local paper and have not been able to get the story out of my head. a 90 year old woman in Maine saw her cat Smudge being attacked by a bobcat in her backyard. Mildred Luce saw Smudge in the jaws of a wild animal and she hobbled herself over and rectified the situation. Mrs. Luce is a hero in my book. i hope that when i'm 90 years old i have the energy and the courage to pull on a bobcat's tail and save the life of my kitty. her story flabergasted me and blew my perseption of older women right out of the water.

what i did not understand is why they killed the bobcat (maybe it's a Maine thing). apparently he ran into Mrs. Luce's house after Smudge, and when the authorities arrived they shot the wild animal. i understand the need to test the animal for rabies, but why kill it? couldn't they have tranquilized it? to me, it seems unnecessary and unfair. the starving bobcat was just doing his thing, trying to get a bite to eat after a very long and snowy winter. a it wasn't the bobcat's fault that he didn't recognize Smudge as a domestic (read: protected and privileged) animal.

i guess the emotional impact of this story is twofold for me. on one hand it brought me great joy to read of Mrs. Luce's courage in the face of danger. on the other hand, it reminded me of the arbitrary value some members of our society place on the lives of domesticated animals versus those that live in the wild.