How a Washington state woman narrowly avoided a mountain lion attack

A Washington State woman narrowly survived a harrowing attack by a mountain lion. She and four friends fought off the animal for nearly an hour while biking near a forest

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Mountain lions, also known as cougars – they only rarely go after humans. But a woman in western Washington state was recently biking with friends near a forested area when a mountain lion attacked. Angela King with member station KUOW has their survival story.

ANGELA KING, BYLINE: As a team of competitive cyclists in their 50s and 60s, Annie, Erica, Aune, Tisch and Keri have biked thousands of miles across Washington state. But it was an encounter they had on a gravel trail northeast of Seattle that would uniquely test their strength and stamina.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANNIE BILOTTA: Right now we have a bicycle on top of the cougar that we are holding him down with, but he is fighting back.

KING: That was Annie Billotta as she called 911 to tell dispatchers a young cougar had attacked her friend, Keri Bergere. She says two cougars initially crossed their path. One kept going, but the other jumped on Bergere and knocked her right off of her bike.

KERI BERGERE: And he tackled me off my bike. I ended up in the ditch on the other side of the road, pinned to the ground, and it was crushing my face. I could feel – I thought my teeth were coming loose and I was going to swallow my teeth. I could feel the bones crushing.

KING: But Bergere could also hear her friends rushing to her rescue, grabbing anything they could find to fight off this determined cougar.

BERGERE: You know, I opened my eyes, and I see Annie right in front of me.

BILOTTA: Well, at first, I tried to choke it, and that was like choking a rock. It did absolutely nothing.

BERGERE: So Billotta had another idea.

BILOTTA: I do remember trying to put my hand into its mouth to try to pry its jaw off of Keri, but I felt it shifting its teeth like it wanted to try to…