Man Attacked by Cougar, Saved by Bear

Nature hikes are often adventures, but the one that Robert Biggs, 69, took in Whisky Flats, California, is a bit of a doozy: he was attacked by a cougar ... and rescued by a bear!

Robert Biggs, 69, often hikes in the Bean Soup Flat area, which is about a mile and a half above Whisky Flats. He came across a mother bear, a yearling and a newborn, which were about 40 feet from where he was standing.

After watching the bear family for a few minutes he decided to leave them be and turned to walk back up the trail. As he turned, a mountain lion pounced on him grabbing hold of his backpack with all four paws.

"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 said. "It must have been stalking the little bear, but it was on me in seconds."

He wrestled with the cat, striking it in the head with a rock pick. The cat screamed when it was hit with the pick, but didn't let go, Biggs said. Before he knew it, the mother bear came from behind and pounced on the cat, tearing its grip from the backpack.

The bear and the cat battled for about 15 seconds, Biggs said, until the cat finally ran away. The bear went on its way as well. Biggs ended up with bite marks, scratches and bruises to his arm, but was otherwise uninjured.

So, long story short. He bearly escaped and he ain't lion.

Real or not, you decide, but it does make for a fascinating story. Trevor Warner of Paradise Post has the scoop: Link - via USA Today


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Crazy story! However the bear in the picture is a brown bear and they're no longer anywhere to be found in California. All we've got left are black bears and it's surprising to me that one of those little guys would take on a mountain lion.
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Kennnn, black bears can be brown. Also, as far as I've heard, black bears in NorCal and Canada can be as mean as Grizzlies (SoCal black bears are known for being more timid). But it sounds like this was a mama with her cub, so it probably was more about running off a predator in the vicinity than saving a human.
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I agree with you Cuculine. The mother bear would not like a mountain lion anywhere near her cub. Heck, she was probably not too happy to have a human near her cub. However, that mountain lion let the mother bear know exactly where it was at by attacking and now she could chase him off proper. The human was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Worked out pretty well for the mother bear though.
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