MARIAVILLE – A domestic goat named Sarsaparilla is lucky to be alive today after she was attacked by a bobcat.

The goat’s owner killed the bobcat, and state wildlife authorities were waiting Thursday for the results of tests to determine whether the cat was rabid.

The attack occurred Wednesday afternoon at the home of Stephen Broschat in Mariaville, a rural area of Hancock County east of Bangor.

Broschat, who works from his home as a Web page designer, was in the house at the time and was alerted to the bobcat’s presence by his dog, a border collie, barking outside.

“They’re a herding dog,” he said. “They don’t usually bark; they use their expressions to control the animal.”

The dog was barking toward the goat pen, so Broschat immediately loaded his 12-gauge shotgun and headed toward the pen.

“I heard these guttural cries and they were muffled, and I knew my goat could cry louder than that,” he said. “I got to the pen and discovered my goat leaning up against the barn with a bobcat hanging from its neck like a Christmas tree ornament.”

The bobcat was about 25 inches long and stood just above Broschat’s knee.

“The bobcat saw me, but he never stopped what he was doing. I put the gun up to him and shot him. I put a 3-inch hole in him and he still would not let go.”

The gunshot frightened the goat and she took off out of the pen with the bobcat still hanging from her neck, he said. Sarsaparilla stopped in a snowbank, and the bobcat finally fell off.

Broschat said he was a little wary of approaching the animal, not knowing whether it still had enough strength to strike out at him. But it was dead.

Broschat put it in a plastic bag and set it in a freezer, thinking that he might get the bobcat mounted. When he learned it would cost $400, he changed his mind.

“I didn’t mind so much releasing it to the game wardens to have it tested,” he said.

The Maine Warden Service has a policy that whenever a wild animal is killed after coming into contact with a domestic animal, it is sent to a state lab to have it tested for rabies. Incidents of rabies have been on the rise in the state over the past few years, and several cases have been reported in Hancock County.

Warden Dave Simmons, who picked up the dead bobcat, said that Mariaville is ideal bobcat country and it’s not surprising that a bobcat would attack a domestic animal if it got the chance.

“They’re opportunistic,” Simmons said. “I guess he saw the chance of an easy meal.”

Bobcats are not a major problem for most people despite the fact that their population is on the rise, according to biologist Wally Jakubas, the mammal group leader with the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Although there have been cases where bobcats have attacked domestic geese, chickens and even a dog, it doesn’t happen often.

Bobcats can be found in most parts of the state, although populations are lower in areas where there is more deep snow. They are attracted to areas Down East because of the thick forest cover. They also like the rock outcroppings that provide natural crevices and caves that they use for dens and for protection in escaping from predators, such as coyotes and dogs.

They vary greatly in size but generally weigh 25 to 35 pounds. Some large males can be up to 60 pounds or heavier.

Although generally wary of humans, they will venture into occupied areas occasionally, especially at this time of year.

“It depends on how they’re doing,” Jakubas said. “Their main diet this time of year is snowshoe hare, but when the snow gets deep, they have a harder time. They don’t have the big feet like a lynx does and they sink in the deeper snow.”

With their main diet unavailable, they’ll look elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the attack by the bobcat punctured the goat’s throat, and Broschat said he could hear air escaping when the goat breathes. Veterinarians didn’t hold much hope for her. There is no rabies vaccine specifically for goats, he said, and the one given to goats was developed for sheep.

He’s treating Sarsaparilla – one of his pets – as if the bobcat were rabid, using surgical gloves when he handles her. But he is also treating her injuries with the hope that she will survive. He gives her injections of penicillin twice a day, and, on the advice of the vet, also has given her a tetanus shot.

“We’re nursing the goat,” he said. “She was traumatized by the experience, but she does seem to be doing better.”

He’s anxiously awaiting the word from the lab to see what Sarsaparilla’s future will be.