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Police: Siberian Lynx attacks person in Buckhead

Investigators are on the scene where a Siberian Lynx attacked a woman in a Buckhead neighborhood Tuesday.
Police say the cat's owner was out of town and a friend to feed it while he was gone. When they went to feed the cat, which is housed on a property in the 3000 block of Paces Ferry Road NW,  the person was bitten on the head. Police reported the person as bleeding heavily and the animal still in its cage after the attack.

ATLANTA — According to an official with the Department of Natural Resources, the owner has 9 cats, including 4 Syberian Lynxes, one other lynx, and 3 other cats of comparable size.

Channel 2's Carl Willis went to the neighborhood, where neighbors said it isn't the first incident involving the large cats.

Neighbors are nervous as it's still not clear how the animal was able to attack a person hired to feed them.

They say it doesn't help matters that one of the large cats has gotten loose in the neighborhood before.

Aerial footage from NewsChopper2 showed a large cat pacing in its cage at a home in Buckhead.

It was moments after police say a Siberian Lynx bit someone.

Police found the victim bleeding heavily from her head. NewsChopper 2 was there DNR arrived to check the propert to determine if the cats are safe and properly housed.

DNR says the owner is permitted to breed the animals on the property.

“I’m pretty sure they're in tight cages and pretty aggressive,” neighbor Cassandra Whipple said. “My main concern now is what they're going to do with the animals.”

Whipple says her concern is also for the children and pets in the neighborhood.

A search of our archives shows the animals have broken free before.

In 2004, another lynx, belonging to the same owner, got loose.

A 50-pound lynx was spotted near a home on Beechwood Hills Court. No one was hurt in that incident.

Still, neighbors say they have questions that need answers.

“Because I don't think any of us really know how they're being contained and if one of them was to get out and bite someone in my family or anyone else, it'd be pretty terrifying," Whipple said.

WSBTV

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