CYCLIST KILLED BY WILD COUGAR
A WOMAN was killed and a man badly injured in a cougar attack as they were on a bike ride.
Sonja Brooks, 32, and 31-year-old Isaac Sederbaum were cycling through foothills near Seattle in Washington State when the animal attacked.
Police rushed to the scene to find the beast still standing over Sonja’s body.
The cougar was later tracked down and shot dead. It had struck as the two pals rode their mountain bikes at an area called North Bend.
The pair had stopped when they spotted the mountain lion and scared it off by making a lot of noise
But it returned and chased Sonja into woods before killing her.
Sergeant Ryan Abbott of King County Sheriff’s office said: “The cougar had actually dragged the victim back to the wood line where she was found dead.”
Isaac was bitten on the head by the wild cat. Captain Alan Myers of the Department of Fish and Wildlife said: “It latched on to his head. He said he had his whole entire head in the jaws of this animal. “And he was being shaken around very, very horribly.” Isaac was airlifted to hospital in Seattle in a serious condition. That was later downgraded to satisfactory and doctors said he was alert and talking.
There have been only 15 non-fatal attacks by cougars in Washington over the past 100 years.
Also known as panthers or pumas, cougars eat deer and smaller mammals and are generally solitary and secretive.
They are found British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, in the western United States, and down to Texas.