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SuzannePjam
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I can't believe a 65 year old woman managed to fight off a mountain lion to save her husband. She must be expecting an amazing 50th wedding anniversay present!
When mountain lion attacks, spouse fights back
Wife clubs big cat with log after husband is attacked in California state park
SAN FRANCISCO - Wildlife officials credited a woman with saving her husband's life by clubbing a mountain lion that attacked him while the couple were hiking in a California state park.
Jim and Nell Hamm, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, were hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park when the lion pounced, officials said Thursday.
"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground," Nell Hamm said in an interview from the hospital where her husband was recovering from a torn scalp, puncture wounds and other injuries.
After the attack, game wardens closed the park about 320 miles north of San Francisco and released hounds to track the lion. They later shot and killed a pair of lions found near the trail where the attack happened.
The carcasses were flown to a state forensics lab to determine if either animal mauled the man.
Although the Hamms are experienced hikers, neither had seen a mountain lion before Jim Hamm was mauled, his wife said. Nell Hamm said she grabbed a four-inch-wide log and beat the animal with it, but it would not release its hold on her husband's head.
"Jim was talking to me all through this, and he said, 'I've got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,'" she said. "So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."
When the pen bent and became useless, Nell Hamm went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.
‘She saved his life, there is no doubt’
"She saved his life, there is no doubt about it," said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the Department of Fish and Game.
Nell Hamm, 65, said she was scared to leave her dazed, bleeding husband alone, so the couple walked a quarter-mile to a trail head, where she gathered branches to protect them if more lions came around. They waited until a ranger came by and summoned help.
"My concern was to get Jim out of there," she said. "I told him, 'Get up, get up, walk,' and he did."
Jim Hamm, 70, was in fair condition Thursday. He had to have his lips stitched back together and underwent surgery for lacerations on his head and body.
Nell Hamm warned people never to hike in the backcountry alone. Park rangers told the couple if Jim Hamm had been alone, he probably would not have survived.
"We fought harder than we ever have to save his life, and we fought together," she said.
When mountain lion attacks, spouse fights back
Wife clubs big cat with log after husband is attacked in California state park
SAN FRANCISCO - Wildlife officials credited a woman with saving her husband's life by clubbing a mountain lion that attacked him while the couple were hiking in a California state park.
Jim and Nell Hamm, who will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month, were hiking in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park when the lion pounced, officials said Thursday.
"He didn't scream. It was a different, horrible plea for help, and I turned around, and by then the cat had wrestled Jim to the ground," Nell Hamm said in an interview from the hospital where her husband was recovering from a torn scalp, puncture wounds and other injuries.
After the attack, game wardens closed the park about 320 miles north of San Francisco and released hounds to track the lion. They later shot and killed a pair of lions found near the trail where the attack happened.
The carcasses were flown to a state forensics lab to determine if either animal mauled the man.
Although the Hamms are experienced hikers, neither had seen a mountain lion before Jim Hamm was mauled, his wife said. Nell Hamm said she grabbed a four-inch-wide log and beat the animal with it, but it would not release its hold on her husband's head.
"Jim was talking to me all through this, and he said, 'I've got a pen in my pocket and get the pen and jab him in the eye,'" she said. "So I got the pen and tried to put it in his eye, but it didn't want to go in as easy as I thought it would."
When the pen bent and became useless, Nell Hamm went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.
‘She saved his life, there is no doubt’
"She saved his life, there is no doubt about it," said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the Department of Fish and Game.
Nell Hamm, 65, said she was scared to leave her dazed, bleeding husband alone, so the couple walked a quarter-mile to a trail head, where she gathered branches to protect them if more lions came around. They waited until a ranger came by and summoned help.
"My concern was to get Jim out of there," she said. "I told him, 'Get up, get up, walk,' and he did."
Jim Hamm, 70, was in fair condition Thursday. He had to have his lips stitched back together and underwent surgery for lacerations on his head and body.
Nell Hamm warned people never to hike in the backcountry alone. Park rangers told the couple if Jim Hamm had been alone, he probably would not have survived.
"We fought harder than we ever have to save his life, and we fought together," she said.
"Where there is sacrifice there is someone collecting the sacrificial offerings."-- Ayn Rand
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
"Some of my friends sit around every evening and they worry about the times ahead,
But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference and the promise of an early bed..."-- Elvis Costello
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naděje umírá poslední
ouch.
Dublin, 23/08/2006 = Lifechanging! X D
Katowice, 13/06/2007 = Phenomenal = )
London, 18/06/2007 = Pretty darn sweet = )
London Poster Wanted, PM if you have one for sale = )
They're not meant to hunt and kill humans. And they didn't even kill:)
Anyway, I also thought it was a bit weird they killed more than one.
naděje umírá poslední
Good god I wonder what that looks/feels like.
'The Age'
"THERE was this big black eye, this five-inch eye just staring straight into my face with not one hint of fear."
Last night, professional abalone diver Eric Nerhus, 41, spoke about his escape on Tuesday from a great white shark attack near Eden, on the NSW south coast.
Mr Nerhus, speaking on Channel Nine's A Current Affair, said his whole head, shoulders and right arm were swallowed.
"I was at Cape Howe, diving at eight metres," Mr Nerhus said. "I was following a line of abalone on the sea floor and had my head down concentrating … the next minute I was hit that hard … and I am in like a dark cave that is squashing me in a vice, up and down."
The impact of the attack knocked the regulator from Mr Nerhus' mouth, cutting off his oxygen. "It started to shake me … that is when they cut off the biggest piece of meat they can get."
With his free left arm, Mr Nerhus reached down and poked the shark in its eye socket. "The shark opened its mouth a bit and I tried to wriggle out."
Mr Nerhus, interviewed in his hospital bed, said his nose was broken when the shark crushed his goggles against his face.
After escaping, he reached the surface and called out to his 16-year-old son Mark, on a nearby boat, who pulled him on board. "He said there was just a pool of blood around me," Mr Nerhus said. "And just as I was getting out of the water, it was coming up under my legs again."
Mr Nerhus was rushed to hospital, still conscious, and reflecting on his "one in 10 million" escape.
i'm waiting to hear a story about law enforcement hunting down dangerous criminals with such vengence.
When you're out in the woods, that's the animal's home! If a mountain lion wandered into our homes, no one would bat an eye at us for killing it, but we wander in their homes as though they were our own and think we have some sort of inherent right not to be harmed.
I'm glad this guy survived and I think his wife is one badass old lady, but they shouldn't have shot the lions.
That is one bad ass wife, and how about the old man for having the calm sense to tell his wife to grab a pen and jab it into the beast's eye.
so if i move into your house uninvited and feel you pose a threat to me; i should kill or relocate you.
now; let's take into consideration that those lions didn't pose a threat prior to this incident. and; it's not known if they killed the right lion.
the animals the lions were preditor to will now over populate; causing more animals to be killed; or a hunting season on those animals to control population. this also causes underpopulation of the species the now over populated feeds on.
the headline shouldn't read 2 lions killed. it should read BALANCE OF NATURE DESTROTED AT POPULAR PRESERVE.
Its a state park there aren't a bunch of people moving into moutain lion territory. Just your day hikers or maybe some campers, so that analogy doesn't really work.
I would hope that the park rangers would have the sense to only kill the animal if they had had problems in the past with lion attacks. If that wasn't the case then your right they shouldn't have killed it. It seems to me that the best solution would be to relocate an animal that might bother people. But, I wasn't at the park and I don't know the dynamics of the situation. If by killing the two lions they prevented future attacks, then I guess I am ok with it.
A woman in her 60's screaming at a lion while waving a big log around her head.
That is awesome.
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Actually they are. Humans are just another slow moving mammal on the menu.
When it does happen (a very rare occurance) that a mountain lion or a bear does attack and/or kill a human, particularly on public land (parks or recreation areas), it is incumbent on the immediate government service to remove the immediate threat by killing the "offender". This has been common practice since the late 60's in our own national parks service.
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