One man has been killed and another is seriously injured after they were attacked by a cougar while mountain biking in Washington state.
The mountain bikers were riding together down a remote, backwoods trail on Saturday in Washington state, around 50km east of Seattle, when the two men encountered the animal.
In the ensuing attack, the first rider received deep scratches and the other was dragged away by the cougar to its den, King County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sergeant Ryan Abbot said.
Washington State Fish and Wildlife Police confer with an individual from the King County Medical Examiner's and a King County Sheriff's deputy. Source: AAP
The 31-year-old survivor rode three kilometres out of the area and called 911.
Police drove up the trail, found the victim's bike and went into the woods where they came across the cougar standing over the victim's body, Abbott said.
"He or she, I don't know if the cougar was a male or female, had the body of the victim down in his den," said Ryan.
A deputy took a shot at the animal, sending it fleeing into the woods. Officers of the Washington Department of Fish and Game tracked the cat with dogs and killed it, Abbott said.
The survivor was taken to hospital in Seattle with serious but none-life-threatening injuries, he said.
Fatal cougar attacks are extremely rare in North America, with only about two dozen recorded in the last 100 years, most of them involving children.
Share
