Loyal dog saves her human from a.ttacking mountain lion: “My dog is my hero”

Dogs are a man’s best friend is a saying which is repeated time and again. And the saying does not come without reason; dogs are incredibly loyal to their owners. Eva is another such dog who has proven once again that dogs really are a person’s best friend for how they have your back!

Erin Wilson, 24, was hiking with her pet on the Big Bar Pass on May 16 in the rural Trinity River area of Northern California when the wild cat a.ttacked her. Like many dogs, Eva, a 2.5-year-old Belgian Malinois, is very loyal to her owner, r.i.s.ked her l.ife to keep her human safe.

“I don’t think I will ever be able to live up to how amazing and loyal she is to me,” Eva’s owner, Erin Wilson, told the Sacramento Bee.

At just 55 pounds, Eva was no match for the larger animal, but the brave dog still raced to defend her owner. “I yelled ‘Eva!’ and she came running,” Wilson told the newspaper. “And she hit that cat really hard.” “They f.ought for a couple seconds, and then I heard her start crying.”

The cougar bit the dog’s head and wouldn’t let go, even when Wilson a.ttacked the animal with rocks, sticks and her fists, tried to c.ho.ke it and g.ou.ge its eyes. The cat tried to k.ick her off, scratching her with its back paws. But the mountain lion would not let Eva go.

Wilson then ran back to her truck to get a tire iron and in the process flagged down a motorist. That driver, Sharon Houston stopped for Wilson and learned about the situation. This prompted Houston to grab her own weapons before she set off with Wilson to rescue her dog. The two women were now armed with a tire iron, a four-foot PVC pipe, and pepper spray. Together, the women began b.e.a.ting the l.ion, which had dragged the dog off the trail. Houston finally sprayed the animal with the pepper spray and it fled, Houston said.

After the mountain lion finally released Eva and ran off, Wilson rushed Eva to the nearest animal hospital, which was still an hour away. Along the way, the badly in.ju.red dog experienced multiple sei.zu.res, leaving her owner to fear it might be too late.

Eva su.ff.ered from s.kull fr.ac.tures, a punctured sinus, a badly da.ma.ged left eye, and many scratches, scrapes, and br.ui.ses, according to Wilson’s husband, Connor Kenny. But even despite her myriad wounds, vets thought Eva would s.ur.vi.ve. “We are hopeful she will pull through this,” Kenny told SFGATE. “She’s a fighter, clearly.”

Since the incident, Erin Wilson created a GoFundMe page to help with the vet expenses. “My dog is my hero and I owe her my life.” Wilson wrote in the description of the funding appeal. She hopes her dog will be able to come home with her soon.

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