From the Hunt Network

A man wrestled a mountain lion to the ground saving a 12-year-old boy the animal had attacked.
The cougar pounced on Colton Reeb as he walked to a bathroom close to the Kelly Lake Vacation Lodge in Canada.

A mountain lion or cougarHis rescuer, named only as Patterson, leapt to the boy's rescue.

"The cat had Colton's head in its mouth... blood was squirting out everywhere," he said.

Patterson said five kicks to the cat's head were not enough to wrench the boy's head from the animal's mouth.

So he put a chokehold on the cougar "and squeezed as hard as I could, and he finally let go".

Patterson then wrestled with the 70lb male cougar, which broke free - before growling at him.

"I growled back at him and said 'I'm ready to go'."

The cougar finally slinked away as Patterson's wife stood nearby armed with a meat cleaver.

The boy was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.



Seloushunter

I wonder if "Patterson" is descended from Lt.-Col. J. H. Patterson, D.S.O. of Maneaters of Tsavo fame. Whether he is or not is immaterial, he acted bravely and saved that boy's life no doubt.

here's the full story:

Man describes choking cougar
'Hero' saves boy from attacking animal in B.C.'s Cariboo
Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, August 03, 2007

CLINTON, B.C. - A Kamloops man is being hailed as a hero for saving the life of a 12-year-old boy who was attacked by a cougar at a private summer property near Clinton on Wednesday night.
Colton Reeb was camping with Marc Patterson and his wife and daughter on the Patterson property. Colton was walking to the outhouse after dinner at 6:30 p.m. when a male cougar weighing about 30 kilograms jumped him from behind.

Patterson, who had been sitting on a picnic bench outside the cabin, said "suddenly we heard a deathly scream." He said his daughter Larah, 12, went to investigate.

"She said Dad, there's a cougar on him.' I just got up and ran all the way down there. There was a lot of blood absolutely all over the kid's head," Patterson said. "I didn't really think about it; it happened so fast."

Patterson said the cougar had Colton's head in his mouth and his paws around his neck "like a kitty cat would play with a ball."

Not knowing what else to do, Patterson ran toward the cat and kicked it five times in the head but it didn't flinch. He then knelt down and put his knee on its back and wrapped his hands around the cougar's neck, choking it with his bare hands.

"I squeezed as hard as I could and after five seconds or so, he let go," Patterson said. "We rolled one way and another way...he flung out of my hands and I was able to get up as we were spinning."
As he stood, the cougar stood about a metre from him, his ears flattened and his eyes huge, ready to attack again, Patterson said.

As Colton ran, Patterson lifted his arms and growled at the cougar "like a grizzly bear," giving his family and the injured boy a chance to reach their truck.

The cougar, which stared at the family as they left, was shot and killed two hours later by a "predator attack team" of conservation officers, who found it about 15 metres from the site of the attack.
The attack occurred about 25 paces from the cabin where the group was staying in the bush between Kelly Lake and Pear Lake, about 15 kilometres from Clinton in the south Cariboo.
They had been planning to stay at the site until Wednesday. Instead it was cordoned off with yellow police tape on Thursday.

Patterson said he had a few scrapes on his leg but otherwise was all right. However, he was just starting to feel the shock Thursday night. He hadn't slept since the attack. "It was a horrible sight to see," he said. "I said earlier I was scared, but I was just pumped. It was survival time. I didn't know what it was . . . but I wasn't going to let that boy die."

The Pattersons stayed the night at a Clinton hotel before heading back to Kamloops.

"This fellow is certainly a hero," conservation officer Rod Olsen said. "With a cougar, if you're going to be attacked, you have to fight back. He did the right thing: he acted quickly and saved the boy's life.
"It was pretty selfless to go in there because even a 70-pound cat - it could have been fatal for an adult, easily," Olsen said.

Colton was reported to be in good condition Thursday after surgery at B.C. Children's Hospital in Vancouver. The hospital said in a news release that it was not authorized to say anything further about his condition.
However, Clinton RCMP said in a news release the boy was bitten and clawed, with injuries to his face, head, neck and upper chest.

His parents refused interviews, but said in the hospital statement that when he was attacked, Colton rolled himself into a ball and used his arms to protect his head. They said Colton is in high spirits and feels "ripped off" that he didn't get to stay for the rest of the planned camping trip.

"The boy is doing great," Patterson said. "Can you imagine that? The cat was flinging him around like he was a piece of paper."

Faith Crosson, one of Patterson's Kelly Lake neighbours, said she spoke with Patterson Thursday morning. Having heard the story first-hand, she is convinced Patterson is a hero who saved the boy's life.
"It was a very traumatic thing," Crosson said. "To put your life at risk to save another, that's what makes a hero."

But Patterson gave the credit to his daughter, Larah, who is a close friend of Colton's. "Colton's the survivor. [Larah] went over there because she thought something was wrong," he said. "Another minute and the game warden said he would have been dead."

Cpl. Pete Bes said Thursday that after the attack, Colton was taken to the Clinton RCMP station, then taken by ambulance to Ashcroft hospital and airlifted to Vancouver.

The "predator attack team" camped out at the site and with the help of two tracking dogs searched Thursday in case there was another cougar in the area. Olsen said the public should not be unduly worried, as cougar attacks are "quite rare." The cougar likely mistook the boy for prey, he said. The area around the campsite is heavily forested, with a lot of prey for cougars such as mule deer and mountain sheep.

Olsen said this is the first cougar attack in the B.C. Interior since 1995; the last case in B.C. was in Powell River last year.

With files from Robert Koopmans, Kamloops Daily News and Sunny Freeman, Vancouver Sun

© Vancouver Sun 2007

quote:

The cougar likely mistook the boy for prey

Oh no, I'm sure to the cougar the boy WAS prey.
No horns, no fur, no claws, just pink and slow.
No offense, but out there, we're not the top of the food chain...

The claim I heard with this story was that there have been more cougar attacks on humans in the last 10 years, than the previous hundred.
Grizz

I would have to agree, cats have no fear of people, and if they think they can they will go after anyone they think they can take. Food chain is all it is to them. I do wonder, anyone ever heard of a cougar with a pattern of staking human prey. It is well documented in the big cats on other continents, could happen with cougars to i would think.
I did hear on the news the boy was only scrathed up, and wanted to get back to camping as soon as he could, so good news in the end.

quote:

I do wonder, anyone ever heard of a cougar with a pattern of staking human prey.

If we had millions of poor, unarmed people living in the bush, I bet we would have maneating cougars.

We have had quite a few incidences of cougars following and stalking our forestry workers (probably more than black bears), and I know of at least 3 that have been shot in the last 5 years that were stalking hunters and would not leave when the hunters attempted to chase them away. I got pics of one 8 yards from me that stalked in on me while I was rattling for whitetails in 2004...fortunately he was smart enough to leave when he realized I was not a deer.

Cheers,
Canuck

It was about ten years or so back that a friend of ours told of having the first cougar, in his experience, lay for him and try to attack. This guy has been hunting cougars practically since birth and it's hard to say how many he has dealt with. He used to say he would occasionally take an extra cat to make up for the extra deer he might have taken! He may or may not have been joking.
Joe Garner's bokk, "Never a Time to Trust" documents some past cougar attacks and cougar hunts. Regards, Bill.

I saw today the Calgary Sun has a picture of the boy on the front page. He looks pretty good considering he received 300 stitch's, 200 to his head alone. He is eager to get back out there and camp and ride his bike, brave for a 12 yr old. He states that he saw the cougar coming and punched it several times, them all he could see was the inside of its mouth. I do have to say he is lucky someone saw it and was able & willing to fight with the cat, saved his life.
I will try and do my part this fall, and hunt a cat down and add to it the wall, or sure try anyways.

You and me both, Yetboater... November through January is cat time... haven't had much luck tracking them though... been thinking about spending some $$ and hire a dog squad.

Frans

If the numbers on these things are increasing the way they supposedly are, we might be able to do without the dogs. Someone apparently spotted three kittens playing in the middle of the road, while mama lounged in the ditch about 3 miles away from here, recently.
Grizz

One of the neighbours claimed he saw one on the gravel road that runs East from our house less than two months ago. They brought out a fellow with hounds, but it was too dry, they never found it.

Frans

My son just saw one last week, here in sothern ontario. More and more siteing's of them lately in our province. Funny thing, our M.N.R. do's not seem to agree with people seeing cougar's here in ontario. Allmost think they are hiding something.