Via Skynews:
A Canadian mother has fought off a cougar with her bare hands after it pinned down her three-year old daughter in a forest.
A cougar was hunted down after the attack in Canada
The child, named Maya, escaped with only superficial wounds after the attack near the town of Brackendale, 40 miles north of the western city of Vancouver.
But the cougar, an adult male, was tracked down and killed by conservation officers on Wednesday, reports said.
The girl’s father Pablo Espinosa told public broadcaster CBC that his daughter thought the wild cat wanted to play.
Maya asked: “Why didn’t the kitty play nice?” Mr Espinosa said.
The girl and her mother Maureen Lee were walking on a wooded trail with their dog when the cougar pounced.
I just jumped in there and wedged myself between the cougar and her on the ground.
“All of a sudden it just flew on her, rolled her a couple of times and grabbed her,” Ms Lee told CBC.
“She was on her back and (the cougar) had his paws on her head, and I just knew I had to react quick.
“So I just jumped in there and wedged myself between the cougar and her on the ground.”
Maureen said she then threw the big cat off her back, grabbed her daughter and ran.
Maya suffered puncture wounds to her left arm and head, but was reportedly recovering well.
Conservation officers used dogs to track down several cougars in the area after more than 30 encounters with the big cats were reported in the past 10 days, CBC said.