Boy saved by his Angel when cougar attacked

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This article was published 04/01/2010 (5749 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BOSTON BAR, B.C. — The way Lloyd Forman sees it, his 11-year-old grandson was saved by an Angel.

That’s the retriever who protected young Austin from a charging cougar during a bloody, against-all-odds confrontation Saturday in the tiny British Columbia community of Boston Bar, about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

“The cougar came (from) about five feet away and made a big jump (at Austin),” Forman said Sunday in an interview.

“The dog jumped in between and took on the cougar.”

Austin was in his family’s backyard collecting firewood with his dog when the cougar appeared.

The cougar charged toward the boy, but Angel stepped in and fought off the large cat while Austin ran inside and other family members frantically called for help.

Forman, 72, was sitting down to a bowl of homemade borscht soup when the telephone rang. It was the boy’s mother.

“They phoned here; the cougar was eating the dog alive, they figured. I said, ‘Phone 911,’ ” Forman recalled. “Fortunately, he (the nearest RCMP officer) was a minute away.”

When the officer arrived, the cougar had Angel under the porch with its teeth around her neck. The Mountie fired several shots, killing the cougar. The dog was injured, but is expected to recover. Austin wasn’t hurt.

Austin’s father, Jay Forman, was on his way to work when he stopped by his own father’s house and learned of the attack. He rushed home and arrived soon after the Mountie killed the cougar.

“He (Austin) is doing pretty good. He’s shaken up a bit,” he said.

“I think he’s slowly getting over the fact that he was just about mauled by the cougar, and very grateful his dog took the hit.”

— The Canadian Press