Posted on 03/17/2024 1:26:43 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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.
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.
“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.
(Excerpt) Read more at kuow.org ...
I admire their devotion to their friend, and tenacity while
fighting that cat to the death. Pretty amazing story, and
an extreme galvanization of their friendship for eternity.
From the headline I thought they were describing closing time at a hotel bar.
Bleeding heart liberals are idiots.
The government cares if I die? Who knew?
I though they could NOT care less.
Yep. Hence the advice to stand your ground, pull your jacket up and make yourself look as big as you can. Whatever you do, don’t crouch down to grab something and don’t run. Their instinct is to pounce you from the rear and break your neck.
LOL...that is great!
Maybe I should have said ‘could give a rat’s ass’.
I read this entire article earlier today. For a group of older liberal women, they did a good job with the tools they had at their disposal. It had to be a scary experience. Pinning the cougar down with a bike was a good move.
Yes, it would be better if at least one of them had a sidearm considering they were traveling such a long distance in a secluded area. Maybe after this experience, one or two of them will re-think their (I’m assuming) position on carrying a firearm in favor of having another tool at their fingertips rather than just a 2 inch blade knife.
I wonder if these women will learn the lesson, buy a sidearm and get training. Or does the State of Washington make that impossible?
“animal social services”
LOL! That’ll do the trick.
Thank goodness no one had an evil machine gun pistol with them!
We have them here. Some are really big and bold. And fast. They can cover a few hundred feet in a blink of an eye. A giant muscle with large teeth and big claws. I’d guess this one saw them as a threat.
“galvanization of their friendship for eternity.”
Really. Saving your friend and living through that — not much could bring you closer.
Johnny Cougar: Hurts So Good.
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.
There’s a picture of a dead/taken Cougar from the 60s in a bar on the road to Mount Rainier. Hanging by its neck it was at least 7ft long, maybe 8...and the tail nearly again as long.
It weighed 245lbs.
That cat could bite you at the torso and carry you up into a tree to bleed out.
The big males are regularly 200lbs. You don’t stand a chance.
I remember two decades ago when juvenile cat was sitting in a tree in Palo Alto, CA at a local elementary school eyeing all the tasty snacks on the playground. Animal control services came in and decided they couldn't get the cat out of the tree safely, so they killed it.
You wouldn't believe all the bed-wetting, teeth-gnashing, and bawling that went on after that. "Why did you have to kill the beautiful cat?" It was unbelievable. These idiots would rather have the cat devour a kid on the playground?
Here's the story: Palo Alto visit fatal to cougar / Cop shoots cat near schools and residences, May 18, 2004. Almost went years ago to the day!
I dunno...But getting a big cat latched to the face is never good. This Mountain Lion was bold. The large group bicyclist didn’t faze it. Even a 22. with a full magazine likely would have saved them from this extended attack.
Dying is one thing, but dying because you’re being eaten alive is a no-go in my book.
Yeah, not much huh...
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