LAKELAND, Fla. – In early June, a stray cat tested positive for rabies after a series of unprovoked attacks left five people and a puppy injured in a north Lakeland neighborhood.
The incidents took place around the Glen Road area. According to Polk County Animal Control, the cat was part of a stray colony fed by 31-year-old Angelica Perez, who told investigators she regularly names and feeds the animals roaming her neighborhood.
The animal attacked a total of five people and a dog before it was found dead. One victim, a 29-year-old man, was bitten on the legs without warning while at Perez’s property. A 33-year-old woman had the cat jump into her lap at a neighbor’s house and bite her finger. When she went to wash the cut with a garden hose, the cat lunged from under the home and went after her legs, forcing the woman to defend herself with a baseball bat…