hiker killed by cougar

[Lee Borgersen]

   Authorities:   Dead Oregon hiker likely killed by cougar!

9/11/18

  .....
PORTLAND, Ore. — Authorities say a dead hiker whose body was recovered this week was likely killed by a cougar, marking the first fatal attack by a wild cougar in Oregon and the second in the Pacific Northwest this year.

Search and rescue teams found the body of Diana Bober, 55, on Monday off a trail in the Mount Hood National Forest in Welches, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of Portland. Her body was several miles from where searchers found her car last week near a ranger station.

Bober, an avid hiker who often trekked in the Mount Hood and Columbia River Gorge area, was last heard from by family and friends on Aug. 29. She was reported missing on Friday and it's still unclear when she started her hike, said Sgt. Brian Jensen of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office.

Her body had injuries consistent with a cougar attack and a medical examiner ruled out the possibility that she was mauled after she died of another cause, Jensen said. DNA samples collected at the scene were being flown by the Oregon State Police to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service laboratory for further analysis, he said.

Authorities warned a local school district of the attack and advised other hikers to stay out of the area.
Oregon wildlife officials are attempting to find and kill the animal, he said.
"This is an unprecedented event in Oregon," said Brian Wolfer, watershed manager for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. "We don't know what risk it poses to the public."
Cougar sightings are relatively common in Oregon, particularly in more rural areas, but Bober's death appears to be the first fatal attack.

There are about 6,600 cougars — also called commonly called mountain lions or pumas — throughout Oregon. State wildlife officials get about 400 complaints about the animals each year, according to authorities.

Cougars can be killed by landowners or law enforcement officials when they pose a threat to human safety or cause damage to livestock or agricultural crops. They also can be hunted.
Over the past decade, about 20 cougars have been killed each year in the wildlife management area where Bober's body was found.
In May, a mountain biker in Washington state was killed by a cougar on a trail east of Seattle, the first fatal attack in that state in 94 years.

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[Jerkbiat]

I suppose now they will have to hunt the cougar down for doing what is natural to it.

[Rebel SS]

And kill it.Never made any sense to me. We go pokin' around in their habitat, and if they come after us, we shoot them.

[LPS]

Sounds like too many hikers.  All due respect to the woman too. 

[glenn57]

  i've been attacked by cougars before  i didnt try to hard to fight'em off though!!!!!!!!!

[Rebel SS]

 

[glenn57]

i said cougar in my post!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LPS]

So Glenn, are you permanently scarred from the interaction?    

[Rebel SS]

I think he needs to buckle down and get some work done, instead of tippy-tapping on his iPhone in Bev's Cafe......

[glenn57]

[quote author S link=topic=37395.msg287376#msg287376 date=1536759463]
So Glenn, are you permanently scarred from the interaction?    
[/quote] maybe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[glenn57]

I think he needs to buckle down and get some work done, instead of tippy-tapping on his iPhone in Bev's Cafe......

naw.......aint going there no more..................just down the street at liberty's!!!!!!!!

[Rebel SS]

[quote author S link=topic=37395.msg287376#msg287376 date=1536759463]
So Glenn, are you permanently scarred from the interaction?    

maybe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[/quote]

He just came outta nowhere, right? Vicious killer! 

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[mike89]

got to love a good cougar!!!

[Rebel SS]

You just pipe down, Mr. Stud-muffin! We know all about yer happy hour cougars! 

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[mike89]

You just pipe down, Mr. Stud-muffin! We know all about yer happy hour cougars! 

bout time we see a pic of the NL Rebs!!!!  you go buddy!!!!

[Jerkbiat]

 

[glenn57]

[Rebel SS]

Now giraffes!   

https://www.today.com/news/wildlife-biologist-american-mom-young-son-stable-condition-after-vicious-t137295

[Steve-o]

If a social, mammal predator such as a bear, wolf, or lion decides people are food, and kills and eats a person, find it and destroy it if you can.  Sorry.  Sad for the animal, but you don't want one actively hunting people or teaching their young that people are food.  I don't care if we were in its territory or not.

However, if you are dealing with something more primitive, like an alligator, which will attack anything in its strike radius, it isn't a question learned behavior, but rather simple instinct. 

[Rebel SS]

I hear that their favorite food in the wild are smurfs. 

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[Steve-o]

I hear that their favorite food in the wild are smurfs. 

Looks like she licked one to death.

[mike89]

I hear that their favorite food in the wild are smurfs. 

Looks like she licked one to death.

dats not a good picture!!!!  oh my!!!!!

[glenn57]

 

[Rebel SS]

Cat got yer tongue?   

[Bobberineyes]

All the miles we put on in Oregon the last few days I'm surprised there's not more attacks.  People out walking the 2 lane highways, backroads ( mostly bums hitchhiking). And then there's Yellowstone people hiking the trails everywhere in grizzly country,  not me I'll look at em behind the wheel in gear..

[Lee Borgersen]

  Oregon wildlife officials to hunt for killer cougar 
 
September 13, 2018 — 7:30pm



SALEM, Ore. — Oregon wildlife officials with guns and dogs will hunt for a cougar believed to have killed a woman while she was hiking in rugged terrain near the state's highest peak, a wildlife official said Wednesday.

Diana Bober, who at 55 was an avid and experienced hiker, apparently fought the cougar with repellant, a sharp object and a stick, her sister said.
Bober's body was found Monday, almost two weeks after she was last heard from. She was the first person known to have been killed by a cougar in the wild in Oregon, and the second in the Pacific Northwest this year.

If a cougar is tracked down, wildlife officials will kill it and then check for a DNA match with DNA left on Bober, Brian Wolfer of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife told a news conference Wednesday.

Wolfer acknowledged that other cougars might be killed in the search for the one that attacked Bober, but said capturing a mountain lion in the steep terrain for DNA testing isn't an option.

"It's a knife ridge, very steep country with sheer drops and a cliff," Wolfer said. "It's a large effort just to get stuff in there."

It's a two-hour hike from the trailhead near Mount Hood, Oregon's highest peak at 11,250 feet (3,429 meters), to the site where Bober's body was found along the Hunchback Trail, Wolfer said. The trail is described by OregonHikers .org as "wild and rugged" with frequent signs of cougars and coyotes.

"We're not looking to indiscriminately kill a large number of cougars," Wolfer said. The number of cougars in Oregon has grown since the 1960s from 200 to around 6,600, he said.

"Bober's sister Alison, who is from Arlington, Virginia, and is visiting Portland, said Diana loved the outdoors, and that's how she should be remembered.
"It allowed her to see the beauty in life," Alison Bober said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
The fact that other cougars might be killed "would grieve my sister," Bober said. But Bober, who is a year older than Diana, said she is very impressed with the expertise of law enforcement, search and rescue members and wildlife officials, and that she has agrees with whatever approach is decided by wildlife officials.
Diana stood at only 5 feet, 4 inches (1.52-meters), Bober said.
"She was petite, but she was strong," Bober said.
Evidence including defensive wounds showed that the hiker, who lived in the Portland suburb of Gresham, tried to fight off the attack with a sharp object, a stick and repellant spray, her sister said."

In May, a mountain biker in Washington state was killed by a cougar on a trail east of Seattle, the first fatal attack in that state in 94 years.

[Jerkbiat]

That is just F%^&*g dumb. Hey, shoot first and sort them out later. Maybe we should start deer hunting that way.

[Rebel SS]

Why do you think they're called "wild animals"??!