Anne Hjelle was bicycling along a wilderness trail when a mountain lion sprang from the brush, pounced on her back and dragged her off by the head as fellow bikers threw rocks at the animal and tried to pull her away.
The cougar finally ran off, leaving Hjelle -- a former Marine who works as a fitness instructor -- bloody and near death. Hjelle, 30, lay in serious condition Friday after the mauling Thursday evening in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park.
PHOTO: AP
"This guy would not let go. He had a hold of her face," said Debbie Nichols, who was riding with Hjelle and held on to her friend during a desperate tug-of-war with the cat.
"I just told her, `I'm never letting go.'"
Authorities suspect the same mountain lion also killed 35-year-old Mark Jeffrey Reynolds, an amateur mountain bike racer whose half-eaten body was found Thursday in the park near his disabled bike. He had apparently been killed earlier in the day.
"The chains fell off and somehow broke, and while he was attempting to fix his bike is when the attack happened," said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
The two attacks shocked people in Southern California and reminded them of the dangers of the outdoors in places where suburban sprawl has encroached on the wilderness.
A 2-year-old male mountain lion, which weighed about 50kg, was shot and killed Thursday night after it returned to where Reynolds' body was found.
Initial tests conducted Friday revealed that tissues consistent with human skin were found in the stomach of the male cat, said state Fish and Game spokeswoman Chamois Andersen. The full necropsy will be completed next week, she said.
"We are fairly confident we have the sole cat that was responsible for both attacks," Andersen said.
Footprints taken at the site of both attacks had the same measurements, state officials said. A female mountain lion was also being tested after it was hit by a car and killed late Thursday in the area.
California has had only 14 mountain lion attacks on humans -- six of them deadly -- in the past 114 years, said state Fish and Game Department biologist Doug Updike.
The park where the attacks occurred is in an area of Orange County bordered by Cleveland National Forest and several residential developments, and is designated as a wildlife habitat.
"As long as mountain lions walk this earth, there is going to be some risk from them," said Lynn Sadler, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to saving America's lions. "It's not an amusement park -- the shark doesn't pull back at the last second. The risks are real, even as they are part of the appeal."
The lion that attacked Hjelle dragged her from the bike trail into a ravine. Nichols screamed for help and grabbed Hjelle's legs to free her while other cyclists threw rocks at the cat until it fled.
Jacke Van Woerkom said she was riding behind Hjelle and Nichols and later spoke to Nichols at the hospital.
"She had some blood on her face. She definitely showed signs of a major struggle," Van Woerkom said. "She was shaking, trembling. She said `I was not going to let go. I was not going to let go."'
Sadler said fighting back was the right thing to do: "Predators can't afford to get hurt. If you fight back, you don't seem like prey to them."
Reynolds worked at a sports management firm and had won bike-race championships in his age category.
"My conciliation is Mark was doing what he loved the most, and that was riding his bicycle," said his mother, Dona Reynolds.
Updike estimates there are between 4,000 and 6,000 adult lions roaming California. State law prohibits hunting or killing them.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
Trinidad and Tobago declared a new state of emergency on Friday after authorities accused a criminal network operating in prisons across the country of plotting to kill key government officials and attack public institutions. It is the second state of emergency to be declared in the twin-island republic in a matter of months. In December last year, authorities took similar action, citing concerns about gang violence. That state of emergency lasted until mid-April. Police said that smuggled cellphones enabled those involved in the plot to exchange encrypted messages. Months of intelligence gathering led investigators to believe the targets included senior police officers,
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
RSS