Warning: This story contains disturbing content.
A seven-year-old boy is recovering in hospital after being attacked by a cougar north of Rocky Mountain House over the weekend.
Chay Feuser, Carson Feuser’s mother, said her son was staying with his two sisters and a family friend, Alicia, at a campsite near Buster Creek, Alta., on Sunday morning when the animal he attacked
She said the children were walking back to the trailer when the cougar latched onto Carson’s head and neck, causing the other children to scream.
“Alicia jumps — flies — out of her lawn chair and runs down there and just picks up a big rock from the beach and closes her eyes and throws it and prays to God she doesn’t hit Cason,” Chay said. “And thank God he hit the cougar in the head and startled him and dropped Cason from his death grip.”
STARS took Cason to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton in stable condition, where he underwent surgery.
Chay said she received more than 200 surgical staples and braces and stitches to her head, neck and chest. He will need dental surgery later, he adds, to remove a damaged tooth from where the cougar’s tooth hit Carson’s jaw.
“I tried to shower him this morning and he looked in the mirror and he was absolutely broken,” she said, adding that there are mental health professionals lined up to work with all the children. “But I think every day from this point on it’s going to get better.”
At the end of the day, Chay said it was a miracle her son Cason wasn’t worse off.
“You’re always afraid of cougars, but you never think it would happen,” he said.
“The fact that [it] it wasn’t an adult cougar that saved his life.”
Cason, 7, was attacked by a cougar while camping near Rocky Mountain House on July 31, 2022. (Courtesy: Chay Feuser)
EUTHANIZED COUGAR
A subadult cougar was euthanized earlier 150 meters from the attack site, Alberta Fish and Wildlife Insp. Rob Kohut told CTV News.
The area was closed until Tuesday morning when a forensic laboratory confirmed with DNA that the cougar was responsible for attacking the boy.
According to Canadian Council on Animal Care guidelines, Alberta can euthanize a cougar if it is conditioned to feed on non-natural food sources or frequents areas of human use, or is a threat to or has attacked a pet, cattle or a human, whether provoked. or not
Cason, 7, was attacked by a cougar while camping near Rocky Mountain House on July 31, 2022. (Courtesy: Chay Feuser)
COUGAR PRECAUTIONS
Kohut said cougar encounters are rare, as the animals are normally shy around humans and will usually leave the area if they know humans are nearby. However, he advised taking precautions:
- Travel in groups and carry some form of protection, such as bear spray.
- If you see a cougar in the distance, don’t run or turn your back. If the cougar seems unaware of your presence, gather children and pets nearby and slowly leave the area.
- If the cougar hisses and growls or stares and follows your movements, don’t run or play dead. Make yourself look big and speak up.
- If the cougar makes contact, fight and don’t give up. Use all the means at your disposal.
- Never feed any type of wildlife to prevent cougars and other predators from coming into your neighborhood. Attracting wildlife such as deer or small animals will in turn attract cougars and other predators. Urban deer that obtain food from non-natural sources tend to become slower and docile, making them easier to prey on and perhaps making cougars more likely to enter human-use areas if deer there they are easier to capture.
More tips are available online.
More to come…