Kamloops boy recovering from cougar mauling

Kamloops boy recovering from cougar mauling

Vancouver Sun

Published: Thursday, August 02, 2007

A 12-year-old Kamloops boy is recovering in hospital this morning after he was badly mauled by a cougar a day earlier at a campground near Clinton.

Police in Clinton say the boy suffered claw and bite marks to his head, face, neck and upper chest in the attack, which occurred around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The boy had been camping at a site between Kelly Lake and Pear Lake with a friend and her family when the attack occurred.

According to police, the boy had ventured to a nearby outhouse by himself shortly after dinner when the family heard him screaming.

They arrived at the scene, just several metres away, to find the boy trying to fight off a cougar.

The friend's father rushed in to help the boy, kicking and punching at the cougar, and finally managing to pull it away by grabbing it around the neck.

The cougar then turned on the older man, but did not attack after he began waving his arms.

The boy and the family managed to get safely into a truck and drive away.

Conservation officers later shot the cougar, which had remained at the campsite.

The injured boy, meanwhile, was flown by air ambulance to Vancouver where he remains in care at B.C. Children's Hospital.