Cougar attacks mountain bikers on Washington trail
By Paradise Afshar and Susannah Cullinane, CNN
(CNN) — At least one cougar stalked and then attacked a group of five mountain bikers on a trail in Washington Saturday, injuring one cyclist, wildlife officials say.
The cyclists managed to pin down the cougar and call emergency services before a wildlife officer arrived and killed the animal, while a second cougar apparently fled, the King County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The attack occurred around 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday, wildlife officials said.
The mountain bikers reported being stalked and attacked in the wilderness along Tokul Creek, about 5 miles north of Snoqualmie, the sheriff’s office said.
“One biker (reportedly a 60-year-old female) received either claw or bite injuries from one of the cats during this incident,” the statement continued. “The injured woman was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.”
Initial reports suggested the cyclists used a bike to pin down the cougar, the sheriff’s office said. KCSO deputies, wildlife agents and medical personnel responded to their 911 call.
Washington State Fish and Wildlife police spokesperson Becky Elder told CNN via email that an officer shot the cougar with a firearm.
“Fish and Wildlife personnel removed one subadult cougar at the scene, it is presumed to be older than six months however an accurate age will be determined by officials once tooth data is taken from the cougar,” Elder said.
A “hound handler” was brought in to track a second cougar that witnesses said had fled back into the forest, the department said in a news release.
As of Saturday evening the animal had not been found.
“The public’s safety is our priority, generally during a human-wildlife incident we lethally remove the animal involved,” Elder said.
But she said cougar attacks on humans are “extremely rare.”
“In Washington state, there have been two fatal cougar attacks and approximately 20 other recorded encounters that resulted in human injury in the last 100 years,” she said.
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