This sounds like the plot to a B-grade horror movie, but the killer in the neighborhood was all too real:

For more than a month, a family said it was terrorized by a bobcat that killed animals on their property, sometimes just feet away from them.

WKMG-TV reports Ronnie Nail took matters into his own hands Tuesday when the bobcat pounced on and killed one of his free-range chickens right in front of him.

“He ate 30 chickens, basically one a day. All he’s thinking about is food. He couldn’t distinguish between a toddler and a chicken if it came to that. It gets to the point where it’s either him or us,” said Nail.

Nail had attempted to trap the big cat once it showed that it had no fear of humans and killed a chicken within eight feet of him. When trapping attempts failed, he resorted to his shotgun.

Bobcats can take prey eight times their size, and occasionally stalk and kill deer, goats,  and sheep. More typically their diet consists of rabbits, squirrels, and wild fowl. The few recorded bobcat attacks on humans are generally either suspected or confirmed attacks by rabid animals.

Florida Fish & Game consider the large individual killed by Nail to be a nuisance animal.