During a team ride on a wide trail in Washington state last month, a group of cyclists in their 50s and 60s struggled with the cougar for 45 minutes after it lunged at one of their friends and had his face pinned down.
Five cyclists used only rocks, sticks and their hands to separate the beast from their friends during a harrowing attack on a trail northeast of Fall City, Washington, on February 17, according to a recent report. He said he remembered the battle.
The friends, members of a competitive Recycling Cycle Racing team, were 30 miles into their ride when a wild animal lunged at 60-year-old Keri Bergere, forcing her off the trail and into a shallow ditch. , the cougar’s teeth bit her jaw. .
“My tooth was loose and I thought I was going to swallow it,” Berger said. I told Kuoh In an interview published Thursday. “I felt my bones breaking, I felt my bones tearing apart.”
“I felt like I was suffocating,” she told the station. “I tasted blood in my mouth.”
Her friends immediately tried to protect her with sticks and stones, trying to get the male cougar to loosen his grip on Bergere, whose face was pinned to the ground. One of the cyclists stabbed the cat with a small knife, while the other, Annie Bilotta, 64, tried to strangle the vicious cat.
“It was like choking on a stone,” Bilotta told KUOW. “I didn’t do anything at all.”
She then tried to pry the cougar’s jaw open with her hands.
“I could feel it moving its teeth like it wanted to bite me,” Bilotta said. “I said, ‘No, you’re not going to get both of us.'”
Auna Teets, 59, repeatedly dropped a 25-pound rock on the cougar’s head to avoid hitting her friend. Berger, still held by the cougar, tried to shove her fingers into the cougar’s nostrils and eyes.
After 15 minutes, the animal finally calmed down and Bergère was able to crawl away.
Tish Williams, 59, then robbed Erica Wolfe, 51, of her $6,000 bicycle until Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers arrived and shot the mountain lion between the shoulders. The group used it to subdue the mountain lion for 30 minutes. Blade, the outlet reported.
“All these women had superhuman strength,” Berger said. Ms Berger said her condition was stable, but she had noticeable injuries to her face and she was hospitalized.
“They were little women and I know Fish and Wildlife fired the last shot to kill it. But these women were unarmed and killed that cougar with their bare hands. I did,” she said. “I am forever grateful to each and every one of them.”
The male cougar was about 1 year old and weighed about 75 pounds, according to the state. This was announced by fish and wildlife officials.
The animal did not have rabies or any other serious illnesses or problems that could lead to aggressive behavior, the department said.
