Cougar Mauls Mountain Biker to Death Outside Seattle

Two men enjoying a morning bike ride in Washington state early Saturday encountered a cougar, leaving one man dead and the other hospitalized, authorities said. The incident—the first fatal cougar attack in Washington in nearly 100 years—occurred in the foothills near the North Bend area outside of Seattle. The injured biker, identified only as a 31-year-old male, is reportedly alert and in satisfactory condition, but he described a scene of horror after the encounter. He told authorities the victim “had his whole entire head in the jaws of this animal. And was being shaken around very, very horribly,” Capt. Alan Myers of the state department of Fish and Wildlife told KIRO TV. First responders found the cougar standing over the body of the man it had killed, authorities said. The animal was euthanized and a necropsy will be performed to determine why it became aggressive. “The fact that it stayed in close proximity to these folks and attacked and stayed with them is highly, highly unusual,” Myers said.