Group of heroic women beat up cougar to save friend trapped in its jaws

A woman from the Seattle area is crediting a group of friends for saving her life after she was attacked by a cougar while on a bike ride.

Keri Bergere recounted the story of the attack that left her with serious neck and face injuries in a TV interview with KING 5 News, accompanied by two of the friends who were with her that day.

Bergere, Annie Bilotta and Tisch Williams are all competitive cyclists. On Feb. 17, the three of them were joined by two other women for a long-distance bike ride on the trails outside Fall City, Wash.

The five women had cycled about 30 kilometres and had reached the Tokul Creek trail near Snoqualmie, Wash. when they spotted two mountain lions. Without warning, one of the animals attacked and dragged Bergere off her bike.

“From the time we saw the cougars to the time it took Keri off her bike was about three seconds,” Bilotta recounted. “We didn’t have a chance to face off with them, to scare them away or anything.”

“I just remember getting tackled from this side and ending up at the other side of the road pinned to the ground and hearing all the ladies rallying and fighting for my life,” Bergere said.

The cougar clocked in at 75 pounds and was about one year old, according to a statement issued by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Immediately, the other women leaped into action and engaged in “hand-to-hand combat, battling this thing,” as Bilotta put it.

The women grabbed sticks and a large rock and beat the mountain lion, while Bilotta said she tried to choke the animal, “which was like trying to choke a rock.”

Meanwhile, Bergere, whose face was locked in the jaws of the cougar, was also trying to beat back the beast.

“I knew every second what was going on. And I was doing my own, poking