Cougar Kills Biker in Rare Attack

By The New York Times. Two friends riding their bikes in a mountainous, wooded area of Washington State on Saturday morning were attacked by a cougar, which killed one of them in the state’s first such fatality in more than 90 years, officials said.

The authorities said the two cyclists saw the cougar, a 100-pound male, in pursuit and one of them screamed. They stopped, got off their bikes and made noise to ward it off as people in such situations are advised to do, the authorities said. . .

But as they were about to pedal away, the cougar returned, Sgt. Ryan Abbott of the King County Sheriff’s Office said. It jumped on Isaac M. Sederbaum, putting its mouth around his head and shaking him. It released him and chased after the other cyclist, who had started to run. The authorities identified that cyclist as Sonja J. Brooks. (Read more from “Cougar Kills Biker in Rare Attack” HERE)

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State Orders Pathology Tests on Cougar That Attacked Bicyclists

By The Seattle Times. The state’s Department of Fish & Wildlife will have “an independent, third-party” forensic necropsy conducted on a cougar that attacked a pair of bicyclists near North Bend on Saturday, killing one person and mauling the other.

The independent review is a nod by the state to the politicized world of cougars, one of the state’s largest and most successful predators, despised by ranchers and defended by conservationists . . .

The 3-year-old cougar killed S.J. Brooks, 32, of Seattle, and injured friend Isaac Sederbaum, 31, also of Seattle, on a remote, dirt road northeast of Snoqualmie . . .

The dead cougar weighed 101 pounds. A cougar that age, considered “a sub-adult” – should weigh 130 to 140 pounds, said Beausoleil. (Read more from “State Orders Pathology Tests on Cougar That Attacked Bicyclists” HERE)

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