A Northern California woman saved by her dog when a mountain lion attacked her.
On Monday, Erin Wilson was out for an afternoon stroll along the Trinity River in far Northern California when a mountain lion approached her and the 2½-year-old Belgian Malinois Eva. The mountain lion lunged for Wilson, allegedly scratching her shoulder through her jacket, and the dog started to go after the large cat. Wilson said she began hitting the cougar with anything she could find — rocks, sticks, her fists while it latched onto the dog's skull. She eventually ran back to her truck and pulled out a tire iron and flagged down a passing motorist who grabbed a four-foot length of PVC pipe and some pepper spray.
The pair ran down and began beating on the mountain lion, which had dragged the dog off the trail, Wilson told The Sacramento Bee, and eventually the cat let the dog once it was sprayed with pepper spray. “I don’t think,” Wilson said, “I will ever be able to live up to how amazing and loyal she is to me.”
For now, the dog is in stable condition as veterinarians continue working to to make sure that there’s no bleeding in her brain and that the pressure in her head is going down. On Tuesday, Wilson created a GoFundMe account to raise money to help pay for Eva’s vet bills.