CLINTON, British Columbia — Mark Patterson kicked, choked and wrestled a cougar to rescue a 12-year-old boy from the jaws of the big cat at a resort camp in south-central British Columbia.
Patterson’s quick action was credited with saving Colton Reeb who was on a camping trip near Clinton, northwest of Kamloops, when he was attacked by the mountain lion on Wednesday.
The cougar pounced on Reeb while he was walking to a bathroom close to the Kelly Lake Vacation Lodge. Patterson, who owns the lodge, jumped in to rescue the 12-year-old boy, a family friend.
“The cat had Colton’s head in its mouth … blood was squirting out everywhere,” Patterson said.
Patterson said five soccer kicks to the cat’s head were not enough to wrench the boy’s head from the animal’s mouth. So he put a chokehold on the cougar “and squeezed as hard as I could, and he finally let go.”
Patterson then wrestled with the 70-pound male cougar, which broke free, fixing him with an evil glare and growl, he said.
“I growled back at him and said, ‘I’m ready to go.”‘
The cougar finally slinked away as Patterson’s wife stood nearby armed with a meat cleaver. Later Wednesday, park conservation officers shot and killed the cougar near the community of Clinton.
“I was scared, but I don’t remember … I love this little boy and I didn’t want him to die,” said Patterson, who drove the bleeding victim in his pickup truck to the police station in Clinton.
The Kamloops boy was then taken to the nearby town of Ashcroft and flown by helicopter to B.C. Children’s Hospital with non-life-threatening bite and claw wounds to his face, neck, head and upper chest. He was listed in good condition Thursday at the hospital with stable and normal vital signs.
Conservation officer Rod Olsen said the cougar may have mistaken the boy for a deer or mountain sheep because the attack occurred in an area where such prey is common.
Olsen said Patterson acted heroically and smartly in taking on the young male cat.
“He’s truly selfless and his actions saved the kid,” he said.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — State bear managers seeking to capture and collar female grizzly bears as part of a population count recently trapped a 7 foot, 6 inch male grizzly that weighed 750 pounds after a winter of hibernation.
Mike Madel, bear management specialist with the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said it took two scales and a hydraulic crane to weigh the 8-year-old bruin that had 3 ½;-inch claws and a neck circumference of 4 feet.
“This bear was just a beautiful bear,” Madel said.
Madel said the big male with the bronze head, golden back and dark chocolate legs could weigh as much as 900 pounds by the fall.
“This is really a large male,” he said. In fact, it is the second-largest male grizzly ever recorded in the Northern Rockies Region, Madel said.
Madel captured the bear he dubbed “Big Daddy,” on May 24. He was trying to capture female grizzlies near Choteau to fit them with radio collars to track their movements and whether they have cubs.
“We actually were trying to avoid males,” Madel said.
But he decided to put a radio collar on the bear to track its range.
Madel said he didn’t know the big bear even existed.
“Here’s a bear that’s down on the Front, and he’s accustomed to moving in and around human activity, and he’s never caused a conflict before,” Madel said.
The average-sized male grizzly along the Rocky Mountain Front is 600 pounds, while females are around 300 to 325 pounds.
Madel, who has been managing bears on the Front for 24 years, wonders if the bear he trapped this spring was sired by the largest male grizzly ever recorded in the Northern Rockies: an 8-foot, 800-plus pound bruin trapped in 2003 in the Blackleaf Wildlife Management Area northwest of Choteau.
“This bear,” he said, “looked very much like that bear.”
Madel collected hair from the 2003 bear, but an Idaho lab lost the samples, making it impossible to know if they’re related.
Madel said the younger bear captured this spring hasn’t reached its full size.
“He’s got some growing to do,” Madel said.