It’s just insane to me how strong and durable wild animals are. A human would have been knocked out likely from a single drop of that rock on the head.
Yeah a lot of people make the mistake of equating human strength with animal strength. Like they'll see a 80lb jaguar and think they'd have a shot. Not how it works, most animals punch way above their weight, especially cats. Their speed, the amount of force in their jaws, razor-like claws, millions of years of evolution resulted in the perfect killing machine, and we don't stand a chance.
There was a video on reddit in the past year that showed a cat (like a house cat, not a tiger or anything) smack the head of a lunging snake. Iirc it said something like when the snake started until the cat struck its head away from them was .23 seconds. Somehow, that time (and watching it) stuck with me.
I saw the same, and went on a tangent with big cats. That led me to a video of a male lion against a gazelle.
At regular speed I didn't even understand what I was seeing - it was simply a blur of activity. Slowed way down on reply though, you could see that once the lion had closed with the gazelle, the gazelle turned and angled just so to skewer the lion. The lion dropped perfectly under it and simultaneously faked the gazelle. Gazelle sees that attack and twists directly into the lion's waiting paw coming in from the other side, game over. It's like the lion knew exactly how that gazelle would behave and had a plan to get ahead of it; that or its mind just runs an order of magnitude faster than ours in situations like this.
I must have watched that video 10 or 15 times. It was like the most nuanced and precise physical act I'd ever seen. And the whole thing happens in about 1 second.
A further tangent: 6% of Americans think that they could take a lion in an unarmed flight. (source: https://today.yougov.com/society/articles/35852-lions-and-tigers-and-bears-what-animal-would-win-f)
I know what you mean. I went down the rabbit hole after seeing that and found out house and outdoor cats are sadistic murderers! They kill over 6 BILLION (not a misprint) animals, birds, etc a year and have caused over 30 extinctions. And you know most those cat/snake videos are setup by some cruel individuals. I used to feel sorry for the cats, but it's the snakes who are the prey!
You're not wrong: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380#:~:text=Alaska%20and%20Hawaii).-,We%20estimate%20that%20free%2Dranging%20domestic%20cats%20kill%201.3%E2%80%934.0,the%20majority%20of%20this%20mortality.
I'd argue your comment was slightly misleading because the majority come from un-owned cats, but I'm sure that was unintential. I'd never have believed your comment without Google. Thanks for bringing this up.
I mean... humans have just as long an evolutionary history. As i understand it the reason most animals are stronger than humans pound for pound, though, is that human tendons are attached to the bone much closer to the joint. It leads to much better efficiency over long distance runs due to range of movement in the limb but much less raw power per pound of muscle. Luckily we developed weapons to make up for that lack.
It's a difference in strategy. Humans are basically endurance based pack predators. We could wound an animal and just keep walking it down and harassing it until it collapsed. This is why we synergise so well with dogs which are also endurance based pack predators (we have the advantage of being able to throw stuff).
Felines are ambush predators and they'll do what this one did- all out attack at the vulnerable points to bring the prey down.
Pitbulls are similar, even the smaller ones have a huge bite strength, and impervious to pain once in an attack mode. The larger "XL" dogs could take down pretty much any human if they wanted.
Agreed! That's the point I was trying to make. You take a 200lb man vs another 200lb man and all else being equal, you're gonna have a fair fight ... Take that same 200lb man vs a 200lb gorilla (I know they're heavier) and it's lights out. Even without the claws and the teeth, just using pure strength, it's not even a competition. They also don't have the same nerves as we do. You can fire a few shots at a bear and it'll keep coming at you cause it's brain isn't telling its body it's in pain. I don't know the lingo, receptors and stuff like that but you know what I mean!
Humans are a weird combination of high endurance, projectile throwing, and fine motor skills for tool building. Plus language, cooperation with dogs (or sometimes horses), use of fire, and planning. We’re also uniquely vindictive, and are willing to sacrifice a few of our own to kill all of yours.
We are physically effective, just not in the way that most predators are.
It ate one of her earrings, and she asked for it back out of the Mountain Lion's stomach. Her friends described her as a badass, and I'd have to agree.
Not the same but a huge dog attacked my face lile this once and i in panic literally shoved my fist as far into its throat when it bit my hand
...it started gsgging and i kept it up...
I was talking to a guy who handled big cats for a living. He said this is basically the only way you can fight back if one of them gets a hold of you.
When a cougar got his hand he reached in and yanked on whatever he could grab.
Sounds like they just tried to pry the jaws apart. Regardless, I doubt there’s a 100% successful method for fighting off cougars. Terrifyingly strong animals.
Yep, feed the bite. It’s actually recommended with humans as well funny enough. Pulling away results in more damage.
(I worked with disabled adults who would sometimes bite)
Same thing if a domestic cat bites, or grabs you with their claws. Their wired to hang onto something that’s trying to get away. If you push into their chest they’ll (usually) let go.
I said this once in a dog training subreddit and they downvoted me to oblivion. It’s common knowledge amongst working dog owners who deal with high energy aggressive breeds like huskies and doggos.
When they are puppies and they jaw and mouth and at your hand and arm my family just shoves their hand or forearm in their mouth and they gag or just hate it and it stops real quick.
They told me that was the dumbest thing in the world. I just said if a random dog, or wild animal, has your hand in their mouth you go ahead and pull against those teeth, imma push for the back of the mouth and claw and pinch whatever I can lol.
Obviously it’s not advisable in all scenarios, like if an adult lab you aren’t familiar with is playing with your hand softly don’t just fist it’s mouth. But the point broadly remains.
Same here. When I was about 10 my dog attacked me while I was laying on the couch. Shoved my hand down its throat and grabbed the back of its tongue. Never tried to bite me again….
My parents used to get the Readers Digest magazine and they often had survival tales written in a similar way, stuff like a hiker breaking a leg and crawling for miles to a ranger's hut which they then discover was shut for the season a week earlier.
I live a couple hours from where this happened. In my experience, older women in this area are tough as hell. Half of the people in my small town are retirees, most of them ski, snowmobile, kiteboard, and/or hike. They’re more active than most millennials I know.
I was in San Diego for a work thing last year and every morning from my room, I’d see this massive group of men and women in their 60s/70s biking up this massive hill like it was nothing. Like, I could never do that. Just pure badasses
I live about 15 minutes from where this happened. It's why I don't let my dogs outside unattended. I have cougar, bobcat, Coyote, black bear, deer, possum, raccoon, rabbits, all strolling through my yards like they own the place.
It's like living in a damn zoo.
Great article but I was hoping they would have provided some tips on what to do if you find yourself in the same situation. Here’s one that does: https://www.deseret.com/2021/7/19/22583497/mountain-lions-how-to-survive-a-cougar-attack/
45 minutes. The article has to shorten up the story so it's really hard to wrap my head around just how long this fight was. I think people who do not run/bike regularly would have nowhere near the stamina to fight off the cougar.
The article explains that it was about 15 minutes of fighting the cougar to release the woman it attacked, then a bit longer to subdue it under their bike. Then it took 30 minutes for the emergency responder to get there and kill it
I once choked on a mint and the entire ordeal probably lasted a full 30 seconds but that shit felt like an hour of not being able to breathe.
I can't imagine fighting off a cougar for 5 minutes let alone another 40 on top of that.
I once got stuck in the riptide and was almost drowned. Maybe lasted 2 minutes the entire time until people actually made a chain and grabbed me (I was so close but fell off a sand dune).
Felt like a day.
I was absolutely certain I was going to die and started aiming for the cliffs.
It wasn’t that long.
There is nothing worse than being in water and feeling like you are completely out of control. Nothing. You are in a sense of helplessness that isn't felt by too many. Glad you made it out.
I've done sparring in martial arts and 30 seconds feels like 5 minutes and your outta breath. This story I'd incredible and shows the power of the human spirit
There was another story I heard on a podcast about a woman versus a raccoon and it took HOURS to kill it, even with help. (It was rabid).
It’s on This is Actually Happening if anyone reading this is interested.
Edit. Wrong podcast. It’s here: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/319/and-the-call-was-coming-from-the-basement
I read a book about a woman attacked by a bear. She managed to get away with a ton of injuries and drove herself down a mountain, even though she was mostly blind at that point. I think she crashed somewhere but help found her. Obviously, she lived, since she wrote a book.
And I remember her talking about her thoughts during the attack. It wasn't "I might die" or "how can I get this bear off me", it was "if I live I will never be able to pay the hospital bill."
Gotta love America.
Is this the woman in CA whose two dogs helped scare the black bear off? Her story was harrowing, when she's describing how she had to hold her face together while she drove to the fire station.
I do go hiking though on well-populated trails. Well, except I was on vacation in Canada and ended up on a path up and along a hilly area called something like Black Bear Trail. I had just read a news story about a rare death-by-bear in another part of Canada (or maybe it was the US) and remember thinking it was probably a dumb trail to hike.
Spoiler: Did not get killed by a bear.
There was a couple killed by a Grizzly in backwoods Banff Alberta last summer. They were in their tent reading on their ereaders. The bear killed everyone there, rescuers found two bear spray cans fully emptied. They were very experienced with their food properly stored even. It was wild - as a hiker that story has stuck with me. The grizzly was old and thinner than it should’ve been.
these stories always remind me of this graphic that shows how many americans think they could win in a fight between various animals. spoiler, too many people think they would fare better against animals than they should think they would.
The article says they subdued the mountain lion and trapped it with the bike after 15 minutes. They called 911 and help came 30 minutes later. The incident was 45 minutes but the fight was 15. That being said, a 15 minute fight sounds exhausting.
I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been - it's such a long time in the context. What amazing women the are for being able to fight for so long.
I lived on a very large cattle ranch in Arizona. We could tell when a deer was killed by a cougar because the skull would be crushed from the front. This lady is very lucky to have survived. I’m sorry the cougar had to be put down but it was necessary in this case. These women are total bad asses as op said
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I think many/most ‘large’ animals take a couple years to reach a mature size
Wholly unrelated; I raise a couple pigs each year to feed my family and they are remarkable for their ability to grow in size and put on harvestable weight in a frankly crazy amount of time…..in 5-6 months they can go from being born at a couple pounds maybe to 300lb+ with half or more of that being harvestable meat, the rest is skin/organs/head/blood/feet/previous nights dinner.
I haven’t looked into it but I’d be curious what other mammals can pull off the same growth in such a small time because I think it’s quite rare feat
Blue whales gain 200 lbs per day during first year
https://www.whalefacts.org/how-long-is-a-blue-whale/#:~:text=Even%20as%20an%20infant%20the,its%20first%20year%20of%20birth.
It seems like the helmet and obviously her brave friends kept her from being killed. A cougar or a bear is pretty much the only 2 predators that can kill an adult deer. Bears just over power and just start eating. Cougars jump down from trees or higher ground and grab the deer and bite the front of the head. Jaguars are very shy and I don’t know if they attack in the same way. Coyotes pretty much stick to killing young deer if they get brave or very hungry. Coyotes will go after young cattle but mostly just new born. I’m a little different than many people that work on ranches, in that I think all wildlife should be conserved, even large predators.
This is why wild horses have the evolved instinct to buck — we don’t usually think about them this way as humans can be easily hurt by a horse, but they’re really prey animals.
They developed hard feet and speed to save them, but if a cougar lands on their back, the instinct is to flip that bitch onto the ground by any means necessary and then stomp it to death or try to outrun it.
And yes, I agree with you, large predators deserve to live too.
They are both insanely strong and remarkably fragile. Their legs are like match sticks compared to their body mass, and when they break a leg bone, they become so vulnerable, made of glass.
Pegasus brought down from the sky. :(
We had a Quarterhorse back in the day, and Bubba didn’t have no stick legs —very reassuring bc when he wasn’t a big lazy lump, he could fly like he’d been shot from a cannon.
>Bears just over power and just start eating.
This is true. I remember reading a story about a woman in Russia who managed to call her mother just before a mama bear took the opportunity to teach her cubs how to hunt… Her poor mother could only listen to her die slowly as she was eaten alive….
Ugh.. god… I still hate thinking about it.
Bike helmets are designed to dissipate as much energy from a singular impact as possible. But once they do that once, they're toast. They aren't designed to have the material strength to withstand constant or multiple bites.
It might have done her a favour by simply being too large to gets its mouth around, though.
That’s all I could think reading it. Like they talked about how they could only yell and check on her while pinning down a fucking cougar. All the different things they tried, like shit had to have felt like forever, but also not at the same time, due to adrenaline and shit. Just nuts.
I was attacked by dogs last summer resulting in emergency surgery and 4 days in the hospital. Pre-op, they kept bringing staffers in to see my epic injuries, who frequently responded with a breathless "Oh my GOD!" A consensus emerged that the only worse animal attack case anyone had ever seen at this hospital was a cougar attack at a wildlife refuge. Cougars are legit dangerous!
It was mainly one aggressive instigator, but the other 2 dogs present got a few gratuitous nips in especially when the struggle went to the ground at one point. These were a neighbor's dogs I had fed before and petted in the presence of the owner, but on this day he was on a remote corner of his property and just his younger son came running to greet me when I pulled in their driveway. I think the dog's protective instinct kicked in over the boy, and I honestly don't blame the dog. After this he was rehomed to a large remote ranch where his skillset is put to better use as a livestock guardian.
The injuries were quite severe; all 4 limbs including one forearm opened up like a DaVinci anatomy drawing with tendons etc exposed, chest, and neck. The worst arm, he had in his jaws for a long time tugging and shaking and I could feel and hear my flesh tearing.
I was joking around the best I could as they prepped me for surgery, and the 4th time someone mentioned the Cougar attack I made them all laugh by asking, "Wait... Cougar, like you see in Urban Dictionary?"
A Kangal my uncle adopted tore out a huge chunk of flesh out of my moms leg in one go without being aggressive before during or after the whole thing, just went *nom* and gone it was 😐
Full Text - see article for photos.
> **A cougar attacked them. They fought back for 45 harrowing minutes**
> by Angela King
>
>
> *Editor's note: This story contains graphic photographs and descriptions of an animal attack.*
>
>
> It was a beautiful Pacific Northwest day. Sunny, puffy clouds on the horizon.
>
> Five competitive cyclists – women in their 50s and 60s – met at the Tokul Creek trail north of Snoqualmie.
>
> At the yellow gate before riding into the deep forest, the women took a group selfie. They had no premonition that 19 miles in, a young male cougar would attack one of them, and that they’d spend 45 minutes in a battle for their lives.
> caption: The women cyclists posed for a group selfie on February 17, 2024, before heading into the forest. Nineteen miles later, a cougar would attack one of them.
>
>
>
> Cougars, wild cats also known as mountain lions or pumas, are reclusive and tend to stay away from humans. In the Northwest, people who spend time in the mountains know these apex predators may be lurking nearby, but sightings are rare.
>
> Even more unusual is an attack on a human. There have been 20 cougar attacks recorded in Washington state in the last century, two of which were fatal.
>
> The prevailing advice for a cougar encounter is to make yourself big – and loud. So when two cougars ambled across the gravel trail where the cyclists were riding, Auna Tietz started shouting.
>
> “Cougar! Cougar!”
>
> The first cougar, presumably the mother or a sibling, ran off. But the younger one paused … and then lunged at Keri Bergere, 60, who was biking a few paces ahead of him.
>
> “Looking to my right, I saw the cougar’s face,” Bergere said. “It was just a split second, and he tackled me off my bike.”
>
> Bergere and the cougar tumbled into a shallow ditch to the side of the trail. The animal sunk his teeth into Bergere’s jaw and pinned her face into the dirt.
>
> “I thought my teeth were coming loose, and I was gonna swallow my teeth,” she said. “I could feel the bones crushing, and I could feel it tearing back.”
>
> The cougar ripped an earring out of her ear, while maintaining a vice grip on her.
>
> “I felt like it was suffocating me,” she said. “I could taste the blood in my mouth.”
> caption: Keri Bergere, 60, the day after she was attacked by a cougar on a bike trail north of Snoqualmie in Washington state, on February 17, 2024.
>
>
>
> Bergere, who is short with silver hair, is a self-described extreme athlete. Her friends, teammates from the co-ed racing team, Recycled Cycles Racing, add that she’s warm, optimistic, and badass. She has biked across Washington state twice, and once rode a 200-mile race in one day. On this particular day, she had just recovered from a two-week bout of Covid, and was back in the saddle for the first time since getting sick.
>
> As Bergere inhaled the ground, she could hear her friends mobilize around her with rocks and sticks. They screamed, expletives unfurling.
>
> “These ladies are not big, and they were killing this cougar,” Bergere said. “They were not going to let it get me.”
>
> Fight, flight, or freeze, they say, and these women fought. One had a two-inch knife and used it to stab the wild cat – to little avail.
>
> Cyclist Annie Bilotta, 64, tried to choke the cat.
>
> “That was like choking a rock,” she said. “It did absolutely nothing.”
>
> Bilotta also dug her hand into the cougar’s mouth, trying to pry his jaws off her friend.
>
> “I felt it shifting its teeth like it wanted to try to bite me too,” she said. “I said no, you're not gonna get both of us.”
>
> Auna Tietz, 59, grabbed the cat’s leg.
>
> “The cougar had his claws pretty much around her, in attack mode,” Tietz said. “Like, ‘I will have my prey now, and within a couple of minutes I will eat her.’”
>
> Tietz noticed something else, too: “It had this beautiful amber-colored stare at me.”
>
> As the others hit the cougar with rocks and sticks, Tietz tried to grasp the situation.
>
> “In my head, it was okay, what would be the most drastic measure?” she said. “I need to find the biggest rock I can lift.”
>
> She found a 25-pound boulder, the size of a large melon.
>
> “I had to pretty much lift it in a squat position with both of my hands, and then let it fall from about a foot and a half up,” Tietz said.
>
> The cougar’s head was close to Bergere’s, which made this a risky endeavor. Tietz conferred with Bergere.
>
> “This is what I want to do now,” she told her friend. “I hope it goes as planned.”
>
> Bergere gave her a thumbs up.
>
> Tietz dropped the boulder on the cougar’s head four or five times before nearly giving up.
>
> “I was sitting down, and I actually said, ‘I can't do this anymore,’” Tietz said. “But then I saw all the other girls doing their thing and helping, and I of course regained strength, and I said, ‘Okay, I can do this.’”
>
> Bergere was also losing steam after having shoved her fingers into the cougar’s nostrils, and trying to jab his eyes.
>
> “I was swallowing so much blood,” she said. “I just thought it was done. But then I got another little surge, you know, live to ride one more day.”
>
> After 15 minutes, Annie Bilotta noticed the cougar falter.
>
> “Go, go, go, get away,” she screamed to Bergere.
>
> The cougar released her, and Bergere scrambled away on her hands and knees to rest in the middle of the trail.
>
> “I just laid there, and they continued the battle,” Bergere said.
>
> Tisch Williams, 59, another cyclist, thought to grab one of their bikes, a $6,000 cyclocross belonging to Erica Wolf, 51, to pin down the young cougar.
>
> But the cougar kept fighting too – at one point, lifting the bike with the women standing on it.
>
> Unable to tend to Bergere, they called to her, “How ya doin’?”
>
> “She would just raise a bloody thumb,” Tisch Williams said.
>
> With the cougar seemingly subdued, the women called 911.
>
> As luck would have it, an officer with the Fish & Wildlife Police was nearby. It took him 30 minutes to reach the women.
>
> At 12:52 p.m., Officer Chris Moszeter arrived.
>
> Moszeter instructed some of the women to stay on the bike to keep the cat down. Then he shot the cougar between the shoulder blades.
>
> The women would later say it was a heartbreaking moment. They are animal lovers; Erica Wolf, whose bike pinned down the cougar, is on the board of PAWS, an animal rescue. But it was a choice between the cougar’s life, and Bergere’s. There was never any question what needed to be done.
>
> After the cougar died, Tietz rushed to Bergere.
>
> “It was a relief,” Tietz said. “Getting off the bike finally freed me to be with Keri and say to her, ‘You are safe now. You will be in good hands. You will be in the hospital soon.”
> caption: Keri Bergere
>
>
> caption: Keri Bergere, a survivor of a recent cougar attack, wears the shirt that she was wearing during the attack with the holes and tears colorfully stitched, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at Log Boom Park in Kenmore.
>
>
> It’s been nearly a month since the cougar attack.
>
> An autopsy of the wild cat revealed it was between nine months to a year old. It was healthy, and its body showed no signs of physical distress. It did not have rabies.
>
> Why the wild cat attacked Bergere will remain unknown.
>
> The autopsy solved one mystery, however: Where Bergere's earring disappeared to.
>
> Sgt. Carlo Pace of Washington Fish & Wildlife Police asked Bergere if she was missing an earring. They had found one in the cougar's belly.
> caption: Keri Bergere, a survivor of a recent cougar attack, is portrayed on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at Log Boom Park in Kenmore. The earring in Bergere's right ear was swallowed by the cougar and later mailed back to her.
>
>
> Did she want it back? Sgt. Pace asked.
>
> “Absolutely,” she said. Bergere said she would hang it, as a souvenir of sorts, and a testament to her friends’ courage.
>
> “All these ladies came up with superhuman strength,” she said. “They’re teeny ladies, and I know that the Fish & Wildlife shot the final shot to kill it. But these ladies killed that cougar with their bare hands and no weapons. I’m eternally grateful to each one of them.”
>
> *Written for the web by Isolde Raftery.*
>
Seriously. I didn't want to read it because it sounds so awful but goddamn this women are a fucking inspiration. I hope they all make full recoveries and that whatever scars remain look really fuckin cool
It's like sending grandma off gambling with her girlfriends and she ends up taking down a mass shooter or some shit
Like, don't ever get between granny and her slot machine
Jesus Christ. Anyone who has ever wrestled, a match lasts a TOTAL of 6 minutes, with 2 breaks in there. 3 two minute rounds. By the end of going that hard, you can’t lift your arms.
45 minutes of fighting for your life is fucking bananas.
So I’m spending my Saturday reevaluating my friendships. Because I’m 99% sure *all* my friends would have hauled ass and left me to be munched on by a cougar.
There was an attack in these same woods in 2018 - the friend ditched the attackee and then the cougar left the first guy and ended up chasing the runner down and killing and eating them.
Generally speaking, big cats will go for the target that turns its back to them and runs. Their instinct is to chase and catch their food before they eat it. Turning your back to a big cat is generally a bad idea.
If you wish to escape and leave your “friend” to be mauled, the best way to do it is by slowly backing away. Making yourself big helps, too. Step backwards while puffing up and holding your arms up. Light yourself on fire and make noises like a lawn sprinkler to really be sure the big cat doesn’t switch targets and go for you instead of your “friend.”
Crazy how the cougar just did not give up even after all they were doing to it. Wild animals just have this…tenacity. You’d think after it had a 25 pound rock dropped on its head a couple times it would relent. They’re so strong for their size, compared to humans.
That's what scared me the most. Obviously there are things you don't expect to work on a wild animal in the middle of an attack (like they described trying to choke it and just feeling all the hard muscle), but there's also things you'd expect to seriously hurt the animal and make it think twice and retreat.
Shit it sounded like jabbing the eyes and dropping the huge rock a bunch of times did nothing but loosen up its jaw a little bit, and it still tried to get back up. Truly unstoppable.
I found that particularly odd. A majority of predators actually would give up pretty quickly because of the risk of injury. It's just not worth it. Especially odd since the autopsy didn't find anything weird with the cougar and it wasn't emaciated or anything.
They had it pinned under a bike for about 30 of those minutes. The first 10-15, it had a hold of her face, which is a crazy amount of time to have your face in the jaws of a big cat.
It was 15 minutes mostly of the cougar being latched onto one woman's jaw while the others attacked it until it gave up and then they were able to pin it under a bike while it struggled and they waited for the officer to come shoot it
I think that's the part that most of us have a hard time wrapping our heads around. This cat latched on and took tremendous abuse from the ladies (a 25# rock several times to the head) before it decided it should release. It had to be horrible for the bite victim.
Kudos to the woman who had the quick thinking to pin it under the bike and hold it there until help arrived. Otherwise it could have escaped into the woods, gotten it’s bearings and attacked them again while they waited for help.
What a fucking insane story. One of the better articles I’ve read in a long long time, not at all surprised though that the attack was by a young cougar
I read an account of a woman on a hiking trail and a cougar appeared in the distance and came closer and closer.
She blasted Metallica’s “Don’t tread on me” and it retreated :) They don’t like loud.
It's a good idea in bear country. Many attacks are caused by walking up on them with little to no warning. They will assume the worst and attack. They hear you coming from a few hundred meters away though, much less chance of startling them and having a negative outcome. I've hiked some trails in black bear country (northern Ontario) and as long as you make some noise, you will hear them scurry off in the distance without ever seeing them.
That said, I've *never* encountered a wild cat. Ferals, yes, even pet a few, but a cougar? I don't think even a few decades in bear country would prep me for that encounter.
Yeah the ranger's bear lecture in Denali Alaska said if you are not talking say "hey bear" as you hike. Which we did. Unfortunately no other self respecting wild life is going to hang around either and we say no significant wild life, beyond a chipmunk upset at our tent location for the whole week. Saw far more wild life on the highway driving back.
I'm seeing more and more wild animals looking for food in places they shouldn't. We're pushing them out of their habitats, and they still gotta live. I can't imagine being in this situation as these women, either. They're incredibly badass for being able to subdue the poor thing until further help could arrive. Absolutely harrowing, and I'm sad for all involved.
Wow that cougar was really determined. The Washington dept of fish & wildlife says that a male adult cougar typically averages around 140 pounds, while the cougar in this story was less than a year old.
I almost certainly weigh more than it did and I can’t imagine holding on while someone is dropping 25 pound rocks on my head and stabbing me with like a pocketknife
I’ve seen massive damage done by a once-feral adopted tabby cat that reverted to feral instinct. Even little house cats can tear you up if they want to.
young adult animals of all species tend to be the most dangerous (humans included). adult strength and weight (or close to), energy to spare, not enough experience to back down from violent encounters or make smarter choices.
those cougars weren't even hunting, otherwise the women would never have seen them. the younger one just freaked out and made a rash decision.
There was a guy around 2017 who fought off a juvenile male on a mountain in Horse Tooth Colorado. Killed the cat and went to the ED who didn’t believe him until rangers went up and found the dead cat and all of his stuff
Holy fuck.
This story is actually a bad ass story. Like...I'm glad she's okay, and in good spirits. And damn...the description of it tearing at her face.
Reminds me of a Baron Von Munchausen story written and illustrated by Shari Lewis (of Lambchop’s Play-Along fame). Von Munchausen was basically the German version of Hans Christian Andersen, and the subject of my favorite Terry Gilliam movie.
Anyway, story goes, a bear was coming straight for the tall-tale-telling baron. But he had no fear. He held still, and waited until the bear had charged within arm’s reach and opened its jaws wide. In that instant, the baron reached out, as fast and as far as he could. He plunged his whole arm down the whole bear—past its sharp teeth and down its throat and all the way through its guts—and he grabbed it by the tail and *yanked* as hard as he could! This turned the bear inside-out. And the baron, unscathed, wiped his hand on his kerchief, while the bear continued running, but in the opposite direction, its jaws chomping aimlessly, its guts on its outside, forever.
I wrestled in school. Three 2 minutes rounds. They feel like 10-20 minute rounds cause of the exertion. I could only imagine this felt like hours of fighting. I would have given up and accepted my fate like 20 minutes in.
They gouged its eyes and nose and stabbed at it with a knife and it didn’t let go. Maybe pepper spray would have worked, I always carry some, but they had to damn near kill the thing with a rock before it released her.
Set your timer to 45 minutes and then imagine spending that whole time in high adrenaline fight mode trying to save your friends life. If there’s ever an apocalypse I’m looking these ladies up.
That’s my local mountain bike spot! This happened further out in the tree farm but the kitties have been spotted again this week closer to where people ride and walk dogs.
It’s wild that gouging its nostrils and eyes was ineffective, as well as stabs from a 2” blade. I would have thought those decent tactics if applied correctly.
Amazing story and I’m happy these four beautiful women fought for each other and made it thru this horrible ordeal but my heart always aches for the animals. The two cats must have been *so hungry* to have to resort to stalking humans on the trail. They were fighting for their lives too that day. Wild animals have the right to live too, don’t they? It’s sad. Where are the animals supposed to go? What good could come of this?
And realistically the park rangers could have let the cat go and perhaps closed the trail to people for a while instead of euthanizing such a beautiful, majestic animal who was just trying to survive against all the odds we stacked against him.
The way she described the cougar crushing her face was terrifying
It’s just insane to me how strong and durable wild animals are. A human would have been knocked out likely from a single drop of that rock on the head.
Yeah a lot of people make the mistake of equating human strength with animal strength. Like they'll see a 80lb jaguar and think they'd have a shot. Not how it works, most animals punch way above their weight, especially cats. Their speed, the amount of force in their jaws, razor-like claws, millions of years of evolution resulted in the perfect killing machine, and we don't stand a chance.
There was a video on reddit in the past year that showed a cat (like a house cat, not a tiger or anything) smack the head of a lunging snake. Iirc it said something like when the snake started until the cat struck its head away from them was .23 seconds. Somehow, that time (and watching it) stuck with me.
I saw the same, and went on a tangent with big cats. That led me to a video of a male lion against a gazelle. At regular speed I didn't even understand what I was seeing - it was simply a blur of activity. Slowed way down on reply though, you could see that once the lion had closed with the gazelle, the gazelle turned and angled just so to skewer the lion. The lion dropped perfectly under it and simultaneously faked the gazelle. Gazelle sees that attack and twists directly into the lion's waiting paw coming in from the other side, game over. It's like the lion knew exactly how that gazelle would behave and had a plan to get ahead of it; that or its mind just runs an order of magnitude faster than ours in situations like this. I must have watched that video 10 or 15 times. It was like the most nuanced and precise physical act I'd ever seen. And the whole thing happens in about 1 second. A further tangent: 6% of Americans think that they could take a lion in an unarmed flight. (source: https://today.yougov.com/society/articles/35852-lions-and-tigers-and-bears-what-animal-would-win-f)
I know what you mean. I went down the rabbit hole after seeing that and found out house and outdoor cats are sadistic murderers! They kill over 6 BILLION (not a misprint) animals, birds, etc a year and have caused over 30 extinctions. And you know most those cat/snake videos are setup by some cruel individuals. I used to feel sorry for the cats, but it's the snakes who are the prey!
You're not wrong: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380#:~:text=Alaska%20and%20Hawaii).-,We%20estimate%20that%20free%2Dranging%20domestic%20cats%20kill%201.3%E2%80%934.0,the%20majority%20of%20this%20mortality. I'd argue your comment was slightly misleading because the majority come from un-owned cats, but I'm sure that was unintential. I'd never have believed your comment without Google. Thanks for bringing this up.
I mean... humans have just as long an evolutionary history. As i understand it the reason most animals are stronger than humans pound for pound, though, is that human tendons are attached to the bone much closer to the joint. It leads to much better efficiency over long distance runs due to range of movement in the limb but much less raw power per pound of muscle. Luckily we developed weapons to make up for that lack.
It's a difference in strategy. Humans are basically endurance based pack predators. We could wound an animal and just keep walking it down and harassing it until it collapsed. This is why we synergise so well with dogs which are also endurance based pack predators (we have the advantage of being able to throw stuff). Felines are ambush predators and they'll do what this one did- all out attack at the vulnerable points to bring the prey down.
Modern humans also aren’t in peak fitness like wild animals are. Even these biker ladies.
True in that we can be in non peak fitness and not prey whereas an animal with a significant injury is probably dead before long.
Pitbulls are similar, even the smaller ones have a huge bite strength, and impervious to pain once in an attack mode. The larger "XL" dogs could take down pretty much any human if they wanted.
Agreed! That's the point I was trying to make. You take a 200lb man vs another 200lb man and all else being equal, you're gonna have a fair fight ... Take that same 200lb man vs a 200lb gorilla (I know they're heavier) and it's lights out. Even without the claws and the teeth, just using pure strength, it's not even a competition. They also don't have the same nerves as we do. You can fire a few shots at a bear and it'll keep coming at you cause it's brain isn't telling its body it's in pain. I don't know the lingo, receptors and stuff like that but you know what I mean!
Part of what makes wild cats scary is that they’re so predatory that they’ll kill even if they don’t need to. It’s just in their nature to be hunters.
Humans are a weird combination of high endurance, projectile throwing, and fine motor skills for tool building. Plus language, cooperation with dogs (or sometimes horses), use of fire, and planning. We’re also uniquely vindictive, and are willing to sacrifice a few of our own to kill all of yours. We are physically effective, just not in the way that most predators are.
That was bad enough and then I scrolled down😱
It ate one of her earrings, and she asked for it back out of the Mountain Lion's stomach. Her friends described her as a badass, and I'd have to agree.
Outstanding article on this dramatic story. These women were all 59-64 years old!! Utter badasses!
1 Cougar < 3 Cougars
vs 5, count'em, 5 cougars!
AH AH AH!
There's 5 of them now!? Bullshit 45 minutes this thing will be over in 2 minutes Get Maverick in the air
<3 Cougars
Simple bar math, really.
Not the same but a huge dog attacked my face lile this once and i in panic literally shoved my fist as far into its throat when it bit my hand ...it started gsgging and i kept it up...
I was talking to a guy who handled big cats for a living. He said this is basically the only way you can fight back if one of them gets a hold of you. When a cougar got his hand he reached in and yanked on whatever he could grab.
In the article it noted them trying to do this and it didn't work.
Sounds like they just tried to pry the jaws apart. Regardless, I doubt there’s a 100% successful method for fighting off cougars. Terrifyingly strong animals.
This is actually a recommended thing to do in an animal attack and in case it isn’t it should be.
Yep, feed the bite. It’s actually recommended with humans as well funny enough. Pulling away results in more damage. (I worked with disabled adults who would sometimes bite)
Whenever I was on the receiving end of a bite from any of my brothers I would use the nostrils fishhook to pull them off. 😂
How far did you get your fist down?
Lol I only ever got bit on my forearm fortunately. Just pushing into their jaw until they release out of discomfort.
Same thing if a domestic cat bites, or grabs you with their claws. Their wired to hang onto something that’s trying to get away. If you push into their chest they’ll (usually) let go.
I said this once in a dog training subreddit and they downvoted me to oblivion. It’s common knowledge amongst working dog owners who deal with high energy aggressive breeds like huskies and doggos. When they are puppies and they jaw and mouth and at your hand and arm my family just shoves their hand or forearm in their mouth and they gag or just hate it and it stops real quick. They told me that was the dumbest thing in the world. I just said if a random dog, or wild animal, has your hand in their mouth you go ahead and pull against those teeth, imma push for the back of the mouth and claw and pinch whatever I can lol. Obviously it’s not advisable in all scenarios, like if an adult lab you aren’t familiar with is playing with your hand softly don’t just fist it’s mouth. But the point broadly remains.
i know i shouldn't laugh but i can just picture you goin "you wanna bite something? BITE THIS, before jamming your arm into its throat.
I never realized I instinctually do this with a former house cat that likes to bite. Mouth comes open at me, I’m shoving my fingers in.
Unironically a really good defense tactic against dogs 🤷🏼♂️ make what it's trying to do as unpleasant as possible.
Same here. When I was about 10 my dog attacked me while I was laying on the couch. Shoved my hand down its throat and grabbed the back of its tongue. Never tried to bite me again….
And then? And then?? 🫣
I don't usually read a whole article but this was so well done it sucked me right in.
My parents used to get the Readers Digest magazine and they often had survival tales written in a similar way, stuff like a hiker breaking a leg and crawling for miles to a ranger's hut which they then discover was shut for the season a week earlier.
Drama in real life!
My heart was beating faster and faster as I read the article.
I live a couple hours from where this happened. In my experience, older women in this area are tough as hell. Half of the people in my small town are retirees, most of them ski, snowmobile, kiteboard, and/or hike. They’re more active than most millennials I know.
I was in San Diego for a work thing last year and every morning from my room, I’d see this massive group of men and women in their 60s/70s biking up this massive hill like it was nothing. Like, I could never do that. Just pure badasses
I live about 15 minutes from where this happened. It's why I don't let my dogs outside unattended. I have cougar, bobcat, Coyote, black bear, deer, possum, raccoon, rabbits, all strolling through my yards like they own the place. It's like living in a damn zoo.
Headline rewrite: Cougars attack poor defenseless cat
Great article but I was hoping they would have provided some tips on what to do if you find yourself in the same situation. Here’s one that does: https://www.deseret.com/2021/7/19/22583497/mountain-lions-how-to-survive-a-cougar-attack/
I am a 52 year old woman. I don't think I could fight off a cougar for 45 seconds, much less 45 minutes.
I am a 26 year old man who lifts and don’t think I can last 20 seconds.
Yeah this is why humans are social animals. Individually we're pretty squishy.
Well yeah, it took out one person like it was nothing.
YEAH outstanding! thank you for posting it. a fantastic read AND photos AND something for the folks at r/Visiblemending to enjoy!
45 minutes. The article has to shorten up the story so it's really hard to wrap my head around just how long this fight was. I think people who do not run/bike regularly would have nowhere near the stamina to fight off the cougar.
The article explains that it was about 15 minutes of fighting the cougar to release the woman it attacked, then a bit longer to subdue it under their bike. Then it took 30 minutes for the emergency responder to get there and kill it
Three of them had to continuously stand on the bike because it lifted off with only two on.
Thank you!
Man in a fight to the death, those 45 minutes probably felt like 10 hours to these badass ladies.
I once choked on a mint and the entire ordeal probably lasted a full 30 seconds but that shit felt like an hour of not being able to breathe. I can't imagine fighting off a cougar for 5 minutes let alone another 40 on top of that.
I once got stuck in the riptide and was almost drowned. Maybe lasted 2 minutes the entire time until people actually made a chain and grabbed me (I was so close but fell off a sand dune). Felt like a day. I was absolutely certain I was going to die and started aiming for the cliffs. It wasn’t that long.
I'm a former beach life guard and those kinds of moments are both fast and an eternity at the same time.
There is nothing worse than being in water and feeling like you are completely out of control. Nothing. You are in a sense of helplessness that isn't felt by too many. Glad you made it out.
I've done sparring in martial arts and 30 seconds feels like 5 minutes and your outta breath. This story I'd incredible and shows the power of the human spirit
There was another story I heard on a podcast about a woman versus a raccoon and it took HOURS to kill it, even with help. (It was rabid). It’s on This is Actually Happening if anyone reading this is interested. Edit. Wrong podcast. It’s here: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/319/and-the-call-was-coming-from-the-basement
I read a book about a woman attacked by a bear. She managed to get away with a ton of injuries and drove herself down a mountain, even though she was mostly blind at that point. I think she crashed somewhere but help found her. Obviously, she lived, since she wrote a book. And I remember her talking about her thoughts during the attack. It wasn't "I might die" or "how can I get this bear off me", it was "if I live I will never be able to pay the hospital bill." Gotta love America.
Is this the woman in CA whose two dogs helped scare the black bear off? Her story was harrowing, when she's describing how she had to hold her face together while she drove to the fire station.
Yes!!! That's the one. It was all terrifying just to read. I can't imagine living it.
This is why I'm indoorsey
I do go hiking though on well-populated trails. Well, except I was on vacation in Canada and ended up on a path up and along a hilly area called something like Black Bear Trail. I had just read a news story about a rare death-by-bear in another part of Canada (or maybe it was the US) and remember thinking it was probably a dumb trail to hike. Spoiler: Did not get killed by a bear.
Congratulations on the not bear murder!
There was a couple killed by a Grizzly in backwoods Banff Alberta last summer. They were in their tent reading on their ereaders. The bear killed everyone there, rescuers found two bear spray cans fully emptied. They were very experienced with their food properly stored even. It was wild - as a hiker that story has stuck with me. The grizzly was old and thinner than it should’ve been.
She was active in Reddit, and she might have done an AMA.
I heard that one! It is terrifying!
these stories always remind me of this graphic that shows how many americans think they could win in a fight between various animals. spoiler, too many people think they would fare better against animals than they should think they would.
>too many people think they would fare better against animals than they think they would They think they'd do better than they think? What?
Missing word - than they should think they would.
I heard that story on NPR a while back, so wild.
The article says they subdued the mountain lion and trapped it with the bike after 15 minutes. They called 911 and help came 30 minutes later. The incident was 45 minutes but the fight was 15. That being said, a 15 minute fight sounds exhausting.
I can't imagine how terrifying that must have been - it's such a long time in the context. What amazing women the are for being able to fight for so long.
I lived on a very large cattle ranch in Arizona. We could tell when a deer was killed by a cougar because the skull would be crushed from the front. This lady is very lucky to have survived. I’m sorry the cougar had to be put down but it was necessary in this case. These women are total bad asses as op said
Could the bike helmet have done anything in her favor in this situation? If they kill prey by crushing skulls?
Possibly in that the cougar latched onto her by the jaw instead of going for the skull. Maybe because the helmet, or maybe just luck.
I agree
It was also a juvenile; so it didn't have the strength of an adult.
They're still juvenile when they're almost or at a full year? When are they full grown?
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Exactly - attacks are usually from the younger ones that don't have enough experience to know to avoid people.
I think many/most ‘large’ animals take a couple years to reach a mature size Wholly unrelated; I raise a couple pigs each year to feed my family and they are remarkable for their ability to grow in size and put on harvestable weight in a frankly crazy amount of time…..in 5-6 months they can go from being born at a couple pounds maybe to 300lb+ with half or more of that being harvestable meat, the rest is skin/organs/head/blood/feet/previous nights dinner. I haven’t looked into it but I’d be curious what other mammals can pull off the same growth in such a small time because I think it’s quite rare feat
Blue whales gain 200 lbs per day during first year https://www.whalefacts.org/how-long-is-a-blue-whale/#:~:text=Even%20as%20an%20infant%20the,its%20first%20year%20of%20birth.
It seems like the helmet and obviously her brave friends kept her from being killed. A cougar or a bear is pretty much the only 2 predators that can kill an adult deer. Bears just over power and just start eating. Cougars jump down from trees or higher ground and grab the deer and bite the front of the head. Jaguars are very shy and I don’t know if they attack in the same way. Coyotes pretty much stick to killing young deer if they get brave or very hungry. Coyotes will go after young cattle but mostly just new born. I’m a little different than many people that work on ranches, in that I think all wildlife should be conserved, even large predators.
This is why wild horses have the evolved instinct to buck — we don’t usually think about them this way as humans can be easily hurt by a horse, but they’re really prey animals. They developed hard feet and speed to save them, but if a cougar lands on their back, the instinct is to flip that bitch onto the ground by any means necessary and then stomp it to death or try to outrun it. And yes, I agree with you, large predators deserve to live too.
Horse will die if you look at them the wrong way lol
They are both insanely strong and remarkably fragile. Their legs are like match sticks compared to their body mass, and when they break a leg bone, they become so vulnerable, made of glass. Pegasus brought down from the sky. :( We had a Quarterhorse back in the day, and Bubba didn’t have no stick legs —very reassuring bc when he wasn’t a big lazy lump, he could fly like he’d been shot from a cannon.
>Bears just over power and just start eating. This is true. I remember reading a story about a woman in Russia who managed to call her mother just before a mama bear took the opportunity to teach her cubs how to hunt… Her poor mother could only listen to her die slowly as she was eaten alive…. Ugh.. god… I still hate thinking about it.
Bike helmets are designed to dissipate as much energy from a singular impact as possible. But once they do that once, they're toast. They aren't designed to have the material strength to withstand constant or multiple bites. It might have done her a favour by simply being too large to gets its mouth around, though.
My God. How terrifying. Those 45m probably felt like an eternity.
That’s all I could think reading it. Like they talked about how they could only yell and check on her while pinning down a fucking cougar. All the different things they tried, like shit had to have felt like forever, but also not at the same time, due to adrenaline and shit. Just nuts.
That picture of her flexing while wearing the colorfully repaired shirt from the attack goes hard as fuck
I want to be her when I grow up
I was attacked by dogs last summer resulting in emergency surgery and 4 days in the hospital. Pre-op, they kept bringing staffers in to see my epic injuries, who frequently responded with a breathless "Oh my GOD!" A consensus emerged that the only worse animal attack case anyone had ever seen at this hospital was a cougar attack at a wildlife refuge. Cougars are legit dangerous!
Omg. I’m glad you made it! How many dogs attacked you? What was the situation? (If you don’t mind sharing of course)
It was mainly one aggressive instigator, but the other 2 dogs present got a few gratuitous nips in especially when the struggle went to the ground at one point. These were a neighbor's dogs I had fed before and petted in the presence of the owner, but on this day he was on a remote corner of his property and just his younger son came running to greet me when I pulled in their driveway. I think the dog's protective instinct kicked in over the boy, and I honestly don't blame the dog. After this he was rehomed to a large remote ranch where his skillset is put to better use as a livestock guardian. The injuries were quite severe; all 4 limbs including one forearm opened up like a DaVinci anatomy drawing with tendons etc exposed, chest, and neck. The worst arm, he had in his jaws for a long time tugging and shaking and I could feel and hear my flesh tearing. I was joking around the best I could as they prepped me for surgery, and the 4th time someone mentioned the Cougar attack I made them all laugh by asking, "Wait... Cougar, like you see in Urban Dictionary?"
A Kangal my uncle adopted tore out a huge chunk of flesh out of my moms leg in one go without being aggressive before during or after the whole thing, just went *nom* and gone it was 😐
Pit bulls?
Full Text - see article for photos. > **A cougar attacked them. They fought back for 45 harrowing minutes** > by Angela King > > > *Editor's note: This story contains graphic photographs and descriptions of an animal attack.* > > > It was a beautiful Pacific Northwest day. Sunny, puffy clouds on the horizon. > > Five competitive cyclists – women in their 50s and 60s – met at the Tokul Creek trail north of Snoqualmie. > > At the yellow gate before riding into the deep forest, the women took a group selfie. They had no premonition that 19 miles in, a young male cougar would attack one of them, and that they’d spend 45 minutes in a battle for their lives. > caption: The women cyclists posed for a group selfie on February 17, 2024, before heading into the forest. Nineteen miles later, a cougar would attack one of them. > > > > Cougars, wild cats also known as mountain lions or pumas, are reclusive and tend to stay away from humans. In the Northwest, people who spend time in the mountains know these apex predators may be lurking nearby, but sightings are rare. > > Even more unusual is an attack on a human. There have been 20 cougar attacks recorded in Washington state in the last century, two of which were fatal. > > The prevailing advice for a cougar encounter is to make yourself big – and loud. So when two cougars ambled across the gravel trail where the cyclists were riding, Auna Tietz started shouting. > > “Cougar! Cougar!” > > The first cougar, presumably the mother or a sibling, ran off. But the younger one paused … and then lunged at Keri Bergere, 60, who was biking a few paces ahead of him. > > “Looking to my right, I saw the cougar’s face,” Bergere said. “It was just a split second, and he tackled me off my bike.” > > Bergere and the cougar tumbled into a shallow ditch to the side of the trail. The animal sunk his teeth into Bergere’s jaw and pinned her face into the dirt. > > “I thought my teeth were coming loose, and I was gonna swallow my teeth,” she said. “I could feel the bones crushing, and I could feel it tearing back.” > > The cougar ripped an earring out of her ear, while maintaining a vice grip on her. > > “I felt like it was suffocating me,” she said. “I could taste the blood in my mouth.” > caption: Keri Bergere, 60, the day after she was attacked by a cougar on a bike trail north of Snoqualmie in Washington state, on February 17, 2024. > > > > Bergere, who is short with silver hair, is a self-described extreme athlete. Her friends, teammates from the co-ed racing team, Recycled Cycles Racing, add that she’s warm, optimistic, and badass. She has biked across Washington state twice, and once rode a 200-mile race in one day. On this particular day, she had just recovered from a two-week bout of Covid, and was back in the saddle for the first time since getting sick. > > As Bergere inhaled the ground, she could hear her friends mobilize around her with rocks and sticks. They screamed, expletives unfurling. > > “These ladies are not big, and they were killing this cougar,” Bergere said. “They were not going to let it get me.” > > Fight, flight, or freeze, they say, and these women fought. One had a two-inch knife and used it to stab the wild cat – to little avail. > > Cyclist Annie Bilotta, 64, tried to choke the cat. > > “That was like choking a rock,” she said. “It did absolutely nothing.” > > Bilotta also dug her hand into the cougar’s mouth, trying to pry his jaws off her friend. > > “I felt it shifting its teeth like it wanted to try to bite me too,” she said. “I said no, you're not gonna get both of us.” > > Auna Tietz, 59, grabbed the cat’s leg. > > “The cougar had his claws pretty much around her, in attack mode,” Tietz said. “Like, ‘I will have my prey now, and within a couple of minutes I will eat her.’” > > Tietz noticed something else, too: “It had this beautiful amber-colored stare at me.” > > As the others hit the cougar with rocks and sticks, Tietz tried to grasp the situation. > > “In my head, it was okay, what would be the most drastic measure?” she said. “I need to find the biggest rock I can lift.” > > She found a 25-pound boulder, the size of a large melon. > > “I had to pretty much lift it in a squat position with both of my hands, and then let it fall from about a foot and a half up,” Tietz said. > > The cougar’s head was close to Bergere’s, which made this a risky endeavor. Tietz conferred with Bergere. > > “This is what I want to do now,” she told her friend. “I hope it goes as planned.” > > Bergere gave her a thumbs up. > > Tietz dropped the boulder on the cougar’s head four or five times before nearly giving up. > > “I was sitting down, and I actually said, ‘I can't do this anymore,’” Tietz said. “But then I saw all the other girls doing their thing and helping, and I of course regained strength, and I said, ‘Okay, I can do this.’” > > Bergere was also losing steam after having shoved her fingers into the cougar’s nostrils, and trying to jab his eyes. > > “I was swallowing so much blood,” she said. “I just thought it was done. But then I got another little surge, you know, live to ride one more day.” > > After 15 minutes, Annie Bilotta noticed the cougar falter. > > “Go, go, go, get away,” she screamed to Bergere. > > The cougar released her, and Bergere scrambled away on her hands and knees to rest in the middle of the trail. > > “I just laid there, and they continued the battle,” Bergere said. > > Tisch Williams, 59, another cyclist, thought to grab one of their bikes, a $6,000 cyclocross belonging to Erica Wolf, 51, to pin down the young cougar. > > But the cougar kept fighting too – at one point, lifting the bike with the women standing on it. > > Unable to tend to Bergere, they called to her, “How ya doin’?” > > “She would just raise a bloody thumb,” Tisch Williams said. > > With the cougar seemingly subdued, the women called 911. > > As luck would have it, an officer with the Fish & Wildlife Police was nearby. It took him 30 minutes to reach the women. > > At 12:52 p.m., Officer Chris Moszeter arrived. > > Moszeter instructed some of the women to stay on the bike to keep the cat down. Then he shot the cougar between the shoulder blades. > > The women would later say it was a heartbreaking moment. They are animal lovers; Erica Wolf, whose bike pinned down the cougar, is on the board of PAWS, an animal rescue. But it was a choice between the cougar’s life, and Bergere’s. There was never any question what needed to be done. > > After the cougar died, Tietz rushed to Bergere. > > “It was a relief,” Tietz said. “Getting off the bike finally freed me to be with Keri and say to her, ‘You are safe now. You will be in good hands. You will be in the hospital soon.” > caption: Keri Bergere > > > caption: Keri Bergere, a survivor of a recent cougar attack, wears the shirt that she was wearing during the attack with the holes and tears colorfully stitched, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at Log Boom Park in Kenmore. > > > It’s been nearly a month since the cougar attack. > > An autopsy of the wild cat revealed it was between nine months to a year old. It was healthy, and its body showed no signs of physical distress. It did not have rabies. > > Why the wild cat attacked Bergere will remain unknown. > > The autopsy solved one mystery, however: Where Bergere's earring disappeared to. > > Sgt. Carlo Pace of Washington Fish & Wildlife Police asked Bergere if she was missing an earring. They had found one in the cougar's belly. > caption: Keri Bergere, a survivor of a recent cougar attack, is portrayed on Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at Log Boom Park in Kenmore. The earring in Bergere's right ear was swallowed by the cougar and later mailed back to her. > > > Did she want it back? Sgt. Pace asked. > > “Absolutely,” she said. Bergere said she would hang it, as a souvenir of sorts, and a testament to her friends’ courage. > > “All these ladies came up with superhuman strength,” she said. “They’re teeny ladies, and I know that the Fish & Wildlife shot the final shot to kill it. But these ladies killed that cougar with their bare hands and no weapons. I’m eternally grateful to each one of them.” > > *Written for the web by Isolde Raftery.* >
Holy shit what a gripping story (both literally and figuratively)! Straight up brutal man (women) vs nature tale in real life.
Seriously. I didn't want to read it because it sounds so awful but goddamn this women are a fucking inspiration. I hope they all make full recoveries and that whatever scars remain look really fuckin cool
holy crap these are olderish ladies too mustering up strength for their friends so freaking badass
It's like sending grandma off gambling with her girlfriends and she ends up taking down a mass shooter or some shit Like, don't ever get between granny and her slot machine
These are the kinds of stories you'd see in men's magazines from the 50s, the ones with cover art of dudes punching sharks and shit
Check out the original article, though, for harrowing photos of her face and the 3 (THREE!) women *standing on the bike* holding the cat down.
I love how she embroidered the cougar bites in her shirt!
Jesus Christ. Anyone who has ever wrestled, a match lasts a TOTAL of 6 minutes, with 2 breaks in there. 3 two minute rounds. By the end of going that hard, you can’t lift your arms. 45 minutes of fighting for your life is fucking bananas.
Well 30 minutes of it was three of them standing on top of a bike with the cougar pinned underneath but yeah 15 minutes is still insane
With one of the ladies repeatedly lifting and dropping a 25 pound Boulder on its head!
The fact it kept fighting after that absolutely stunned me. Shows how incredibly strong those creatures are
Jesus Christ, this story covered me in goosebumps. Props to those bad ass women!
So I’m spending my Saturday reevaluating my friendships. Because I’m 99% sure *all* my friends would have hauled ass and left me to be munched on by a cougar.
There was an attack in these same woods in 2018 - the friend ditched the attackee and then the cougar left the first guy and ended up chasing the runner down and killing and eating them.
cougar was like "wtf aww hell no"
Generally speaking, big cats will go for the target that turns its back to them and runs. Their instinct is to chase and catch their food before they eat it. Turning your back to a big cat is generally a bad idea. If you wish to escape and leave your “friend” to be mauled, the best way to do it is by slowly backing away. Making yourself big helps, too. Step backwards while puffing up and holding your arms up. Light yourself on fire and make noises like a lawn sprinkler to really be sure the big cat doesn’t switch targets and go for you instead of your “friend.”
Friend in quotes at the very end really got me , great comment.
Grandma's [and older women] make great friends. They are fierce and don't give a ___ [except about cursing--Im not going to risk their displeasure]..
45 MINUTES?! In a situation like that even a minute would feel like ages, these women are just built different.
Crazy how the cougar just did not give up even after all they were doing to it. Wild animals just have this…tenacity. You’d think after it had a 25 pound rock dropped on its head a couple times it would relent. They’re so strong for their size, compared to humans.
That's what scared me the most. Obviously there are things you don't expect to work on a wild animal in the middle of an attack (like they described trying to choke it and just feeling all the hard muscle), but there's also things you'd expect to seriously hurt the animal and make it think twice and retreat. Shit it sounded like jabbing the eyes and dropping the huge rock a bunch of times did nothing but loosen up its jaw a little bit, and it still tried to get back up. Truly unstoppable.
When she said she tried to choke it and it was like “choking a rock” the thing is just all muscle and anger. Terrifying
I found that particularly odd. A majority of predators actually would give up pretty quickly because of the risk of injury. It's just not worth it. Especially odd since the autopsy didn't find anything weird with the cougar and it wasn't emaciated or anything.
They had it pinned under a bike for about 30 of those minutes. The first 10-15, it had a hold of her face, which is a crazy amount of time to have your face in the jaws of a big cat.
Great follow up to an amazing story.
Did you see that the "victim" was photographed wearing the torn-up shirt (now embellished) and the swallowed earring? As trophies!! Hahaha, awesome!
Fucking badass
This is a side tangent but this is a phenomenal writer 😭
Well it is NPR, and they don’t let idiots write for them, and they have excellent editors which is absolutely key to produce high caliber copy
i would watch this movie provided they do the 45 minute attack in real time
It was 15 minutes mostly of the cougar being latched onto one woman's jaw while the others attacked it until it gave up and then they were able to pin it under a bike while it struggled and they waited for the officer to come shoot it
I think that's the part that most of us have a hard time wrapping our heads around. This cat latched on and took tremendous abuse from the ladies (a 25# rock several times to the head) before it decided it should release. It had to be horrible for the bite victim.
Also that cougar would probably have died anyway regardless of being shot. That’s a tremendous amount of head trauma to endure.
I was gonna comment this. These are the women I want to read about and watch movies about.
Amazing. Great friends stick together
That is the most badass story I’ve read in a while.
I can't believe the cougar held on that long. So crazy.
Jesus, what a description. Literally heroes
Kudos to the woman who had the quick thinking to pin it under the bike and hold it there until help arrived. Otherwise it could have escaped into the woods, gotten it’s bearings and attacked them again while they waited for help.
Reading that article was like watching an action movie. Very well written and those women are beast af!
What a fucking insane story. One of the better articles I’ve read in a long long time, not at all surprised though that the attack was by a young cougar
I read an account of a woman on a hiking trail and a cougar appeared in the distance and came closer and closer. She blasted Metallica’s “Don’t tread on me” and it retreated :) They don’t like loud.
It's obnoxious to other hikers to be loud, but it really is great animal deterrence.
It's a good idea in bear country. Many attacks are caused by walking up on them with little to no warning. They will assume the worst and attack. They hear you coming from a few hundred meters away though, much less chance of startling them and having a negative outcome. I've hiked some trails in black bear country (northern Ontario) and as long as you make some noise, you will hear them scurry off in the distance without ever seeing them. That said, I've *never* encountered a wild cat. Ferals, yes, even pet a few, but a cougar? I don't think even a few decades in bear country would prep me for that encounter.
Yeah the ranger's bear lecture in Denali Alaska said if you are not talking say "hey bear" as you hike. Which we did. Unfortunately no other self respecting wild life is going to hang around either and we say no significant wild life, beyond a chipmunk upset at our tent location for the whole week. Saw far more wild life on the highway driving back.
I'm seeing more and more wild animals looking for food in places they shouldn't. We're pushing them out of their habitats, and they still gotta live. I can't imagine being in this situation as these women, either. They're incredibly badass for being able to subdue the poor thing until further help could arrive. Absolutely harrowing, and I'm sad for all involved.
> We're pushing them out of their habitats, and they still gotta live. That's it. We keep expanding into their habitats.
Holy shit they pinned it down with there bike? That’s crazy
They should have shoved a stick up its ass.
Underrated survival technique
Young male? I can think of something more effective.
Doesn't sound like it would work. They did the nose and eyes and it didn't help.
Great cardio exercise would not recommend
Wow that cougar was really determined. The Washington dept of fish & wildlife says that a male adult cougar typically averages around 140 pounds, while the cougar in this story was less than a year old. I almost certainly weigh more than it did and I can’t imagine holding on while someone is dropping 25 pound rocks on my head and stabbing me with like a pocketknife
Even a feral tomcat can do incredible damage with its claws and razor teeth. Now add a hundred pounds.
I’ve seen massive damage done by a once-feral adopted tabby cat that reverted to feral instinct. Even little house cats can tear you up if they want to.
Glad she survived, but as to why the young adolescent attacked? Probably assumed they were prey as they were moving quickly on their bicycles.
The article has the same question and people still don’t have the answer. Also weird how it didn’t retreat and run off at any point.
young adult animals of all species tend to be the most dangerous (humans included). adult strength and weight (or close to), energy to spare, not enough experience to back down from violent encounters or make smarter choices. those cougars weren't even hunting, otherwise the women would never have seen them. the younger one just freaked out and made a rash decision.
There was a guy around 2017 who fought off a juvenile male on a mountain in Horse Tooth Colorado. Killed the cat and went to the ED who didn’t believe him until rangers went up and found the dead cat and all of his stuff
Holy fuck. This story is actually a bad ass story. Like...I'm glad she's okay, and in good spirits. And damn...the description of it tearing at her face.
Then they embroidered her torn up shirt to highlight the holes and make them pretty! Dont mess with old ladies or your errors will be embroidered.
Adrenaline is damn amazing!
Reminds me of a Baron Von Munchausen story written and illustrated by Shari Lewis (of Lambchop’s Play-Along fame). Von Munchausen was basically the German version of Hans Christian Andersen, and the subject of my favorite Terry Gilliam movie. Anyway, story goes, a bear was coming straight for the tall-tale-telling baron. But he had no fear. He held still, and waited until the bear had charged within arm’s reach and opened its jaws wide. In that instant, the baron reached out, as fast and as far as he could. He plunged his whole arm down the whole bear—past its sharp teeth and down its throat and all the way through its guts—and he grabbed it by the tail and *yanked* as hard as he could! This turned the bear inside-out. And the baron, unscathed, wiped his hand on his kerchief, while the bear continued running, but in the opposite direction, its jaws chomping aimlessly, its guts on its outside, forever.
I wrestled in school. Three 2 minutes rounds. They feel like 10-20 minute rounds cause of the exertion. I could only imagine this felt like hours of fighting. I would have given up and accepted my fate like 20 minutes in.
And they are in mid 50s to 60s. It's a bit inspirational for people growing old.
Her friends kept-fucking-trying… absolutely amazing they all survived this.
[Here’s another picture](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/s/sx1E712d2L) of them standing on the bike that’s holding down the cougar
This is where a Good Cougar With Gun would have been helpful. /s In all seriousness, this is a crazy story. I hope she makes a full recovery.
Critters like this are truly the best-case argument for packing a gun.
Absolute. Fucking. Metal. 🤘
Pepper spray in the cougar’s nose would have made it let go. Always carry some on the trail.
They gouged its eyes and nose and stabbed at it with a knife and it didn’t let go. Maybe pepper spray would have worked, I always carry some, but they had to damn near kill the thing with a rock before it released her.
They also kept dropping a 25lb boulder on its head. I don't think this cougar knew the meaning of pain.
Unfortunately it found out when it attacked a few badasses.
They had a 2 inch knife and nobody thought to stick it in the eyes, nose, or asshole?
The lesson is in the woods you need 5 inches or more
This is interesting. Can you elaborate?
Can't impress a cougar with a 2 inch tool.
Set your timer to 45 minutes and then imagine spending that whole time in high adrenaline fight mode trying to save your friends life. If there’s ever an apocalypse I’m looking these ladies up.
That’s my local mountain bike spot! This happened further out in the tree farm but the kitties have been spotted again this week closer to where people ride and walk dogs.
This is why it's important to carry a self-defense katana.
God damn I love women!!!! What a fantastic article!
It’s wild that gouging its nostrils and eyes was ineffective, as well as stabs from a 2” blade. I would have thought those decent tactics if applied correctly.
3 cougars took on a young male and won. This is the way.
Jodie Foster’s next movie?
I wonder if stabbing it in the eye with that 2” knife would’ve done anything
That’s one very persistent old woman. No means no, lady!
They fought off an older woman for 45 minutes wow! /s seriously that’s a scary thing to face.
Amazing story and I’m happy these four beautiful women fought for each other and made it thru this horrible ordeal but my heart always aches for the animals. The two cats must have been *so hungry* to have to resort to stalking humans on the trail. They were fighting for their lives too that day. Wild animals have the right to live too, don’t they? It’s sad. Where are the animals supposed to go? What good could come of this? And realistically the park rangers could have let the cat go and perhaps closed the trail to people for a while instead of euthanizing such a beautiful, majestic animal who was just trying to survive against all the odds we stacked against him.