The cat dialed back pressure through its crushing jaws, and the friend was able to pull away, fellow cyclists said in an interview one month after the incident east of Seattle.

A group of Seattle-area cyclists who helped one of their own escape the jaws of a cougar recounted their story this weekend, saying they fought the cat and pinned it down.

The woman who was attacked, Keri Bergere, sustained neck and face injuries and was treated at a hospital and released following the Feb. 17 incident on a trail northeast of Fall City, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife said in a statement.

Bergere said she spent five days at an area hospital and was still recovering.

Fish and Wildlife Lt. Erik Olson called the actions of her fellow cyclists “heroic” in the statement. But the extent of the cyclists’ battle with the 75-pound cat wasn’t immediately clear then.

  • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Also a caver who was effected by the policy, and while I miss the hell out of spelunking, I love bats more. I have 2 small caves on my farm and have never been in them for that reason alone, also have multiple bat boxes I’ve built for them as well. My need to cave outweighs the need for these creatures to exist.

    • SacralPlexus@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I totally hear you and respect your decision. That said I think very few of these decisions are as binary as it seems when presented by authorities:

      • Not every cave is a bat habitat for instance - so does it make sense to blanket close all those caves?
      • What about caves where WNS has clearly arrived and wiped out the population. Should the cave remain closed 15-20 years after?
      • Could we explore mandatory decontamination procedures / quarantine time for visitors between caves (being able to go to even one cave a year would have been infinitely better than never).
      • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I’m not saying there shouldn’t have been a total ban on that. You’re absolutely right, they should have allowed exceptions. This was also an underhanded law to stop idiots from going into caves and completely trashing them too. You can still get in a lot of caves with owner permission and being part of a club that is known to the state. It’s no longer the go into a cave at any time and do whatever you want anymore though.