A 75-year-old Vancouver Island woman is being credited with fighting off two cougars when they attacked her small dogs during a walk this week.
Jacqui Simenson was walking her dogs Teddy and Bear along a pathway in Sayward, north of Campbell River, on Monday when the big cats jumped out of an abandoned building. One cougar took Teddy, an eight-year-old Shih-Tzu, into its mouth and refused to let go.
“I was just terrified, this poor little dog, and she’s looking at you with her eyes, just [as if she was saying], ‘Help me, help me, help me.’ Geez, it was awful,” Simenson told CTV News.
She said she kicked the cougar repeatedly until it ran into a nearby building. When the cat finally spit out the dog, Simenson made her way home, covered in the dog’s blood.
RCMP Cpl. Milo Ramsey was called to the scene and had to make a quick decision to kill both cougars.
“The area was a high pedestrian area,” he said. “Something needed to be done that was appropriate.”
Simenson said she’s sad the two one-year-old big cats had to be destroyed.
“I don’t want to see a hurt animal. I didn’t even want to kick them, for God’s sake. That was hard,” she said.
Her two dogs are recovering and Teddy is scheduled for surgery on her broken jaw this Thursday.
Simenson’s husband Lorne said he was impressed by how she fought for her animals.
“You never know how you’re going to react. I think adrenaline kicked in and I think she did a mother’s instinct. I’m quite proud of her,” he said.
