Post by Thick Justice on Mar 30, 2012 21:17:18 GMT -5
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121940/Hiker-69-attacked-mountain-lion-saved-bear-hed-befriended.html
A 69-year-old hiker claims he is lucky to be alive after he was attacked by a mountain lion – but saved by a bear he had previously befriended.
Robert Biggs stumbled across a mother bear and her cub when he was roaming the woods of north-central California on Monday.
After watching the family for some time, he decided to continue his trek, which is when a lion unexpectedly pounced on him from behind.
The big cat grabbed his backpack with all four paws and the two engaged in a violent tousle.
‘They usually grab hold of your head with all four paws, but my backpack was up above my head and (the mountain lion) grabbed it instead,’ Biggs told the Paradise Post.
‘It must have been stalking the little bear, but it was on me in seconds.’
Biggs wrestled with the lion and struck it in the head with a rock pick, but was unable to loosen its hold.
But the mother bear suddenly came to his rescue and pounced on the lion, tearing its grip from the backpack and forcing it to flee into the woods.
Biggs has bite marks, scratches and bruises as evidence of his ordeal.
The keen walker claims the mother bear saved him because he had encountered, and befriended, her and her cub on a previous trip to the same area.
‘They're pretty territorial,’ he said, recounting how he had previously played with the cub.
‘It stood up on its hind legs and put its paws up and I got to play patty-cake with it,’ he said.
Biggs' wife Suzanne says she is worried about her husband, because he refused to visit a doctor after the attack.
'There were puncture wounds and skin was hanging off, and you don't know what's in their paws,' she said.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121940/Hiker-69-attacked-mountain-lion-saved-bear-hed-befriended.html#ixzz1qemjXGBB
A 69-year-old hiker claims he is lucky to be alive after he was attacked by a mountain lion – but saved by a bear he had previously befriended.
Robert Biggs stumbled across a mother bear and her cub when he was roaming the woods of north-central California on Monday.
After watching the family for some time, he decided to continue his trek, which is when a lion unexpectedly pounced on him from behind.
The big cat grabbed his backpack with all four paws and the two engaged in a violent tousle.
‘They usually grab hold of your head with all four paws, but my backpack was up above my head and (the mountain lion) grabbed it instead,’ Biggs told the Paradise Post.
‘It must have been stalking the little bear, but it was on me in seconds.’
Biggs wrestled with the lion and struck it in the head with a rock pick, but was unable to loosen its hold.
But the mother bear suddenly came to his rescue and pounced on the lion, tearing its grip from the backpack and forcing it to flee into the woods.
Biggs has bite marks, scratches and bruises as evidence of his ordeal.
The keen walker claims the mother bear saved him because he had encountered, and befriended, her and her cub on a previous trip to the same area.
‘They're pretty territorial,’ he said, recounting how he had previously played with the cub.
‘It stood up on its hind legs and put its paws up and I got to play patty-cake with it,’ he said.
Biggs' wife Suzanne says she is worried about her husband, because he refused to visit a doctor after the attack.
'There were puncture wounds and skin was hanging off, and you don't know what's in their paws,' she said.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121940/Hiker-69-attacked-mountain-lion-saved-bear-hed-befriended.html#ixzz1qemjXGBB
