You know those stories about parents gaining super-human strength and lifting buses off their children? Well, one Canadian man gained superhuman strength and successfully fought off a cougar who was attacking his dog. (Don't worry: the dog is fine now.)
William Gibb of Alberta had stopped at Tim Horton’s for coffee and let his two dogs out to take a quick potty break in the woods near the restaurant. He says he heard one of the dogs yipping and went to see what was wrong. When he got into the woods, he saw one dog struggling against an attacker while the other barked.
“And I saw something wrapped around her, so I ran up and punched it in the side of the head,” Gibbs told the CBC. “At that point, I realized it was a cougar.”
Gibbs fought the cougar off his wounded dog and tried to get her out of the way. While he was tending to the hurt dog, he realized the cougar had his other dog in its sights. He called to his friends inside the restaurant for help, then grabbed a stick and went chasing the cougar.
He finally got the dogs safely into the car and took them to a nearby veterinary clinic where the wounded dog received stitches on her neck and belly. Wildlife officials arrived to the scene and euthanized the cougar.
Gibbs walked away from the incident uninjured except for a few claw marks, and his dog is expected to make a full recovery. Canadian wildlife officials remind pet owners to keep a close eye on pets so this doesn’t happen to them.
But even officials have to recognize that Gibbs is a total badass: “I wouldn’t recommend everybody wrassle with a cougar,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Jack Poitras. “But in this case it worked for the best.”
