THis one sure seemed like it was out to get tthat girl.
BBVD do you remember the story about the lady from Princeton? or was the gerber still dripping off your chin.
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The Associated Press
6/25/02 2:31 AM


PORT McNEILL, British Columbia (AP) -- An 8-year-old Reno, Nev., girl was recovering after being attacked by a cougar off northern Vancouver Island.

The attack occurred Sunday on Compton Island, a tiny island about 200 miles northwest of Victoria.

Rita Hilsabeck was on a kayaking trip with her parents and five other people when the cougar pounced on her while the group was making camp for the night.

"It was odd, really, there were people all around her when it happened," her father, Chuck, 52, said Monday at Port McNeill and District Hospital.

"She's got a lot of stitches and she's got soreness, but she's very tough and resilient and she's going to be OK."

Rita's most serious wounds were deep gashes around her neck, where the cougar grabbed her, he said. She also had to have some stitches on her arm and lower back.

Three members of the group remained on Compton Island after the incident, along with Jason Doucet, a guide with Northern Lights Expeditions of Bellingham, Wash.

"Rita was just near the kayaks and the cougar came up and just picked her up on the beach and started dragging her up towards the woods," Doucet said.

Her parents and other kayakers ran to the rescue and eventually scared the big cat off. The cougar, a large male, climbed a nearby tree and was later shot and killed.

Cougars have killed 11 people in British Columbia, 10 of them children, since 1900.

Most cougar attacks occur on Vancouver Island, which has the highest concentration of British Columbia's cougars. There have been 15 cougar attacks on Vancouver Island since 1970, including three deaths.

The last fatal attack occurred in August 1996 when a 36-year-old woman died near Princeton, about 120 miles east of Vancouver, while fighting off a cougar that mauled her son.

Cindy Parolin, an experienced outdoorswoman, was killed when she rushed to defend her 6-year-old son Steven. He was attacked by the big cat after it spooked his horse and he fell off.

Parolin, 36, went after the cougar with a stick and it turned on her, allowing two of her other children to carry Steven away and get help. The family had just started a horseback camping trip.

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