Rare attack: Cougar kills bicyclist near North Bend
A mountain lion killed one bicyclist and injured another near North Bend on Saturday morning, the King County Sheriff's Office said.
The injured person, a 31-year-old man, was taken to Harborview Medical Center and was in satisfactory condition Sunday, hospital spokesperson Susan Gregg said in an email. His identity and that of the person who was killed were not released.
A cougar believed to have been the one that attacked was tracked down and killed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Sheriff's Office said.
Mountain lions are found around Washington state, but attacks are extremely rare. Only about two dozen people have been killed by mountain lions in North America in the past 100 years, according to the state wildlife department.
The only other recorded fatality in Washington state was in 1924, when a teenage boy was killed near Olema, south of Omak.
Adult male mountain lions average about 140 pounds, according to the wildlife department, but one weighing 197 pounds was collared recently in Washington state.
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Gil Aegerter
Gil edits feature pieces and helps guide staff reporters through their stories. He previously served as interim digital director and online managing editor at KUOW. Before that he spent seven years with NBCNews.com, where he was variously a senior editor, editor-producer and features editor. He also worked 25 years as a newspaper editor in Anchorage, Alaska, San Diego, Wilmington, N.C., and Seattle. He also was a freelance researcher for NBC Olympics for the Games in Atlanta; Sydney, Australia; Salt Lake City; Athens; and Torino, Italy. He is a graduate of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, with a degree in photojournalism.
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