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Mother describes the horror of seeing a
cougar attack four-year-old daughter - "... the
attack was the second on the island in a month. Conservation officers
say the cougars have become aggressive because of a shortage of prey
animals."
(Note: We knew it would come to this, and worse that is yet to come.
Watch and see how utterly SILENT the Wildlands Project purveyors are
-- both the elected officials and those implementing the global
Control plan using 're'introduction of large predators. Those
who are in the business of 're'introducing and 'protecting'
such large predators, listen up. It is not the fault of the
large predators for doing what they do naturally -- but it is
the sole fault of those raising and loosing these large predators upon
the public. Of course they'll run out of 'prey animals.'
They are natural killing machines and there's only so much prey of
the sort that those loosing them upon the public keep promising they
will choose for their food sources. When they run out of wildlife
prey and seek out human children for their meals, then what? This
should be an attempted murder charge against every pro- large predator
're'introducer -- nothing less. Note in the related reading that there
are current sightings of cougars in Indiana and Virginia, with known
populations of cougars in Kansas, Oklahoma, Michigan, and dozens of
other states. Add to this the exploding wolf and bear -- and wolverine
-- populations and it's nothing short of a recipe for disaster. What
if this little girl's mother was not a quick-thinking emergency room
nurse? What if a helicopter had not been quickly summoned and readily
available?)
July 30, 2005 By Terri Theodore
The Canadian Press
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Four-year-old Hayley Bazille was attacked by a cougar on
Vancouver Island.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (CP) - She's not much bigger than the cougar she fought off. And Monique Bazille admits she's always had a fear of cougars, but that didn't stop her from racing at the cat hunched over her four-year-old daughter.
"I saw that cougar on her. I wasn't the least bit afraid."
she said. "(It was) instinctual, I'm sure anyone would have done
the same thing, any parent." The attack happened on Wednesday
near Zeballos on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.
Near tears several times during a news conference on Friday, Bazille
described the horror of seeing the cat over Hayley, her little girl's
blood on its muzzle.
Bazille said Hayley is a trooper and was already trying to get rid of
the cougar.
"She's fighting him off going, 'get off me, get off me."'
Monique's only weapon was a small cooler that contained four bottles
of beer and a water bottle.
"I grazed it on its shoulder and it wasn't fazed. It kept its
ground and it snarled and growled at me," she said. "It had
blood on its face from my little girl."
"I was angry and I said 'you get off of her."'
The cougar took off into the bush just seconds later.
Her daughter was covered in blood, her scalp torn open right to the
skull.
Bazille is an emergency room nurse at Lions Gate Hospital in North
Vancouver and knew immediately what to look for.
"Her neck wasn't touched," she said.
She believes it was her husband's insistence that Hayley put on her
life jacket at their vehicle, before the family went down to the Kaouk
River to swim, that saved the girl's life.
"I agree that Hayley's life jacket probably protected her
neck," said Dr. Cindy Verchere, the plastic surgeon who operated
on the girl at Children's Hospital in Vancouver.
"And it may have even protected some part of her scalp," she
said.
Verchere described putting the girl's scalp back together like a
puzzle.
She said the girl had hundreds of connected lacerations
on her scalp but it looked as if she would have minimal
visible scarring once surgery heals.
Hayley also has some puncture wounds and scratches, but her condition
is considered stable.
"She's very fortunate that her face wasn't significantly
involved," Verchere said.
Her mother describes Hayley as a stubborn little girl with a big
attitude who loves to swim, sing and dance.
Bazille said Hayley remembers that attack and that the cougar jumped
out of the tree to attack her.
"At first she said it was a tiger, it was Shere Khan that
attacked her," referring to the villainous cat in The Jungle
Book, "And now she says it's a cougar, the bad kitty bit
her."
Bazille said her daughter is showing signs of anger, which she sees as
hopeful.
"She said that she would like to take the kitty to the deep end
of the pool and drown her."
Trackers with dogs tried to follow the animal but the scent was lost.
Bazille, who's from Coquitlam, said her family will likely camp in the
Zeballos area.
Copyright 2005, The Canadian Press.
Related reading:
Small girl mauled by cougar
July 28, 2005
[Very Important Excerpt]
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports the attack was the second on the island in a month. Conservation officers say the cougars have become aggressive because of a shortage of prey animals.
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Cougar no match for cooler of silver
bullets
July 30, 2005
By Jane Armstrong
The Globe and Mail
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@globeandmail.ca
As she battled the cougar that had pinned her little girl in its claws, Monique Bazille was thankful she packed four cans of beer into a cooler before she swung it at the big cat. On the first try, she hit the cougar in the shoulder, but it refused to release young Hayley from its grip. “I went to hit the cougar and I think I grazed it on its shoulder and it wasn't fazed,” Ms. Bazille told reporters in a Vancouver hospital where her four-year-old daughter was recovering from a near-fatal mauling this week at a campsite on Vancouver Island. Crying at times and still overwhelmed by her daughter's close call, Mr. Bazille told a remarkable tale of how she took on a wild cat Wednesday afternoon in British Columbia's remote backcountry -- and won. “It wasn't leaving,” the slightly built 40-year-old mother of three said, her voice wavering at times. “It snarled and growled at me. It stood its ground. But I stood mine. “I said: ‘You get off of her.' And I was screaming and I went to kick him.” Eventually, the cougar, its mouth red with her daughter's blood, slunk back into the bush. Ms. Bazille, an avid camper, has always been afraid of cougars, which number in the hundreds on Vancouver Island. But on Wednesday afternoon, when she rounded a corner on a wooded trail to find a cougar on top of her daughter, she had no fear. “I saw that cougar on her and I wasn't the least bit afraid of it,” the Vancouver emergency-room nurse said. “I wasn't afraid of it at all. It's instinctive. Anyone would have done the same thing.” Conservation officials and doctors have praised Ms. Bazille's bravery, saying she did everything right in the seconds after the attack. From fighting off the cougar to expertly wrapping her daughter's mutilated scalp, Ms. Bazille saved her daughter's life, they said. “Our first impression was that Hayley had the right mom at the right time,” said plastic surgeon Cindy Verchere, who sewed Hayley's scalp at B.C. Children's Hospital, where the injured girl and her mother arrived Wednesday night. The doctor said Hayley has a long recovery ahead of her, but, save for one scratch to her forehead, her face was mostly unscathed in the attack. Most of the scars on her scalp will be covered by hair eventually, Dr. Verchere said. Yesterday, Ms. Bazille said Hayley was alert, although uncomfortable, and balked at having her bandages changed. The little girl, described by her mother as independent and stubborn, remembers the attack and is angry at the cougar. “She says she'd like to take the kitty to the deep end of the pool and drown it.” Ms. Bazille said the mauling lasted between 30 seconds and a minute. The ordeal began at a remote camping spot on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Ms. Bazille and her husband, Troy, had taken their three daughters to a swimming spot on the Kaouk River. The couple parked their car and Hayley jumped out. Apart from packing the beer, Ms. Bazille said, the couple's second fortunate move occurred when Mr. Bazille grabbed Hayley and put a life jacket on her. Doctors said the padded jacket protected her neck and lower scalp. Ms. Bazille said it is a minute-long walk from the car to the swimming hole, and Hayley ran ahead of her parents. At that moment, some older children emerged from the trail and said they had seen a cougar. Ms. Bazille said she didn't believe them. Then she heard Hayley cry. Ms. Bazille ran toward her daughter's screams. “The first thing I saw was Hayley between rocks. I didn't see the cougar because it blended well into the rocks. “And I saw my little Hayley . . . she's fighting him off, going: ‘Get off me, Get off me.' ” Armed with her mini-cooler, Ms. Bazille flew at the cougar. She knew that it would kill her daughter if she didn't act. “You have to fight back,” she said. “They will continue to kill. And I saw that. He was not leaving. He did not want to go.” Eventually, she beat the animal back and Ms. Bazille ran to examine her daughter's injuries. “Basically, her scalp was gone.” She was also bleeding badly and in shock. Ms. Bazille bandaged her daughter and the parents drove to a nearby marina where a helicopter ferried mother and daughter, first to Campbell River, then to Vancouver. Conservation officials with hounds have been combing the campsite area since Wednesday night searching for the cougar, but have not found it. Searches were to resume today. Ms. Bazille said she is thankful her daughter is alive and urged parents to keep their children close when in the woods. Joking, she said she is also thankful that she and her husband make it a habit to bring a cooler of beer to the beach.
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