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.
I was hiking in the Rockies with friends. We got to our next campsite when a group behind us asked if we’d noticed the massive kitty footprints along the muddy trail. No. No we had not.
You don’t see or hear them when they’re hunting until they want to be seen. It’s incredible.
We have a bell on our cats collar precisely for this reason. It’s impossible to know where they are unless they want you to know otherwise.
I tried putting a bell on a cat once but he learned how to sneak without the bell jingling and would still bring home presents
At this point the bell is just so she doesn’t get trod on.
For a big fat clumsy dunce she is lethally quiet without it.
Went hiking by myself once up a mountain in Aspen about a week or 2 after a mountain lion attack. I was about 1000ft up from the base in the woods when I noticed it was too quiet. I questioned my judgment and turned my ass around and couldn’t have gotten down that mountain any faster.
Oooo yeah is it true that birds and nearby animals get quiet or leave when a predator is nearby?
Yeah you can really feel it too, we have some pretty amazing caveman instincts
Better safe than cat food in that situation all by yourself!