This cat was not out on a hiking trail, or even in a city park. It was in the middle of a densely populated urban residential area. Streets and houses. Cars in driveways. Schools. Kids. Pets. The works. This was on the Bay side of Middlefield Road. The middle of town, not the edge.

This particular cat was far more likely to hurt someone, intentionally or otherwise, than its brethren wandering out in Rancho San Antonio nature preserve. The historical statistics are meaningless.

You might quote statistics about how few people are attacked by rattlesnakes, but if one ends up in your mailbox your odds change quite a bit.