The cat dialed back pressure through its crushing jaws, and the friend was able to pull away, fellow cyclists said in an interview one month after the incident east of Seattle.

The cat dialed back pressure through its crushing jaws, and the friend was able to pull away, fellow cyclists said in an interview one month after the incident east of Seattle.

A group of Seattle-area cyclists who helped one of their own escape the jaws of a cougar recounted their story this weekend, saying they fought the cat and pinned it down.

The woman who was attacked, Keri Bergere, sustained neck and face injuries and was treated at a hospital and released following the Feb. 17 incident on a trail northeast of Fall City, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement.

Bergere said she spent five days at an area hospital and was still recovering.

Fish and Wildlife Lt. Erik Olson called the actions of her fellow cyclists “heroic” in the statement. But the extent of the cyclists’ battle with the 75-pound cat wasn’t immediately clear then.

  • @[email protected]
    2•4 months ago

    True.

    Im sad when this* happens where there are other options or minor adjustments that would go a long way. Bear attacked some sheep? Politics decides there are obviously too many bears in “the area” (0 experts said that, the exact opposite in fact), not the village expanding into the woods. Spend the extra expense to build a proper fence around the sheep? Don’t be silly. Research how to be safe from mountain lion attack (neck guards, pepper spray, maybe a horn/whistle) & cohabit the area? That’s nerd talk.

    *killing the predator, “removing the problem” (from ‘the problems’ ancestral home) instead of (re)searching for a solution

    Also, I imagine (I was never in a situation like that), while unimaginably angry at that particular feline individual, I would be mortified hearing that gunshot (after it was clear “who won”), def would blame myself for the rest of my life.

    It’s like people that go mountain hiking in flip-flops and/or just a shirt & then have to be rescued by helicopter(s, plural if they are in a grup or there are several injured). Happens all the time around here. The analogous response in this case would be to get rid of the mountain, or lower it, or pave it, etc - but since those options are not as easy as shooting a gun (& I guess there is no hunt enjoyment?) we spend money to educate people, give fines to people that need rescuing because of unpreparedness, etc.

    And ‘paving over a mountain’ would get rid of the mountain (the point of going there), much like getting rid of wildlife would do to the woods. If not for the education & cultural significance, we might try to get rid of the bees too, for our safety (but not actually ‘our’, just the current gen in charge).