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Cocker spaniels Hugo and Spencer - along with their owner Hollie Jenkins - have been "bagging" some of Scotland's highest mountains. Munro-bagging involves walking, and some cases climbing, to the tops of mountains more than 914.4m (3,000ft) high. There are 282 in total, and Hugo and Spencer have been up 89 of them so far. Ms Jenkins, who lives in Edinburgh and works in vet healthcare marketing, took up the pursuit last year. Her first Munro was the UK's highest mountain - Ben Nevis, near Fort William. "Hugo and Spencer have a great time," said Ms Jenkins. "As of Sunday, they have done 89 and been back up 12 of them." The dogs gradually moved up from progressively long walks in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh in 2020 to Munros last year. Ms Jenkins is a member of a Facebook group of dog owners who regularly head into the mountains, and she has also seen her Instagram page recording Hugo and Spencer's adventures grow to 125,000 followers. The dogs wear protective clothing such as coats and boots for their paws on trips in cold conditions. Outdoors organisation Mountaineering Scotland has information on its website about taking dogs into the hills.

The whales, which were nearly hunted to extinction, have returned in huge numbers to their ancestral feeding grounds off the coast of Antarctica, according to research published Thursday. In the journal Scientific Reports, researchers for the first time shared details of massive feeding frenzies among fin whales near Elephant Island. More than once, they observed about 150 whales — lunging and diving with mouths wide open — gulping down krill. The scientists also completed abundance estimates, finding a higher concentration of fin whales there than in other regions known for sightings, including off the coast of California. Previous research suggests only 1% to 2% of fin whales survived commercial whaling, which took off in the Southern Hemisphere in the early 20th century and continued until restrictions in the 1970s. Documentation of feeding frenzies in densely-po[CENSORED]ted waters where whales gathered generations ago and before they were hunted at industrial scale suggests that the species has rediscovered an important habitat and that the po[CENSORED]tion is recovering. The species’ strong return to the feeding grounds rich with krill is “raising hope that fin whales are on their way to pre-exploitation numbers,” the researchers wrote in the Scientific Reports paper. Video footage of the fin whale “aggregation,” as the researchers call it, first caught public attention in a 2019 BBC documentary series called “Seven Worlds, One Planet” that was narrated by David Attenborough, the famous British naturalist and broadcaster. The researchers on the Scientific Reports paper, who collaborated with the documentarians, added new data and further analysis of the whales. “I’d never seen so many whales in one place before and was absolutely fascinated watching these massive groups feed,” Bettina Meyer, a co-author of the study who is a biologist and professor at the Alfred Wegener Institute, said in a news release. Fin whales feeding at the northern coast of Elephant Island, Antarctica, in April 2018, filmed from the RV Polarstern.Sacha Viquerat Fin whales, once considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, were upgraded to "vulnerable" in 2018. The International Whaling Commission is in charge of setting global catch limits for commercial whaling. The quota for fin whales was dropped to zero in 1976, the study says. In 1982, the commission decided to pause all commercial whaling. Iceland, Norway and Japan are among the nations that have hunted whales commercially since. Scientists and other observers began to notice an increase in fin whale sightings in the waters between South America and Antarctica beginning in the early 2000s, and have long suspected that the area near Elephant Island was becoming a hot spot for fin whales. In the Scientific Reports study, the researchers quantified fin whales’ presence by using a helicopter aboard an icebreaker ship. Flying allowed researchers to survey and collect data about the whales from above and determine the creatures’ density. Fin whale researchers Helena Herr, left, and Sacha Viquerat pose on the RV Polarstern after returning from a helicopter survey flight.Bertie Gregory Many whale species pass habits or information about feeding sites through generations. Research suggests whales pass this information through mothers. The location of the Antarctic feeding sites might have been lost to generations of fin whales until now because their po[CENSORED]tions were so decimated and disconnected by whaling, the study suggests. “… This could be a good sign that, nearly 50 years after the ban on commercial whaling, the fin whale po[CENSORED]tion in the Antarctic is rebounding,” Meyer said. The study says the whales’ presence could have environmental benefits because they recycle nutrients in their waste that benefit the growth of phytoplankton, which forms the foundation of the food web in the waters off Antarctica.

Alaska wildlife officials have killed four black bears in a campground recently reserved for people in Anchorage who are homeless after the city’s largest shelter was closed. Employees from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on Tuesday killed a sow and her two cubs and another adult bear that was acting separately, stealing food from tents inside Centennial Park, which is managed by the city, officials said. Anchorage is Alaska’s biggest city, with nearly 300,000 residents, but it is also bear country. The park is located in east Anchorage, nestled between Chugach State Park and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which state wildlife officials describe as a vast bear habitat. The Department of Fish and Game said Anchorage residents share the municipality with up to 350 American black bears and up to 65 brown bears. “Certainly it’s a busy bear time for us all across Anchorage,” said department spokesperson Cynthia Wardlow. This part of Anchorage “does tend to be a pretty active bear area because of the high- density housing,” she said. The city closed its pandemic mass shelter at Sullivan Arena on June 30. The arena had housed hundreds of homeless people throughout the last two years, Alaska Public Media reported. When the shelter closed, some people who are homeless moved to Centennial Park, grabbing the 84 available spots after the campground stopped taking reservations from the public. Corey Allen Young, a spokesperson for Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, said there are 210 people living at Centennial Park, and the city has provided enhanced security for camp users. The city “has also brought in 60 bear proof food storage containers, 20 bear proof 32 gallon containers and is doing hourly clean up efforts to mitigate the trash and food. We also continue to inspect camps and educate campers about bear safe practices,” Young said in an email. The campground, just off the Glenn Highway, is “an ideal jumping-off point for Alaska travelers,” the city’s website says. But it also warns campers not to store food inside tents or outside in coolers so bears are not attracted to campsites. Wildlife officials said before the bears were killed, they were entering tents to get food, personal hygiene items and trash. When bears go inside tents or structures, they pose a risk to human life and are considered a public safety threat, and they may be killed. “Centennial Campground staff are doing the best they can to manage the campground and minimize attractants, but there are still a lot of tents with food in them,” Dave Battle, the Fish and Game department area biologist in Anchorage, said in a statement. “Until that changes, more bears are going to come into the campground and get into tents.” He said this is a safety issue for campers. “Killing any particular bear is a very temporary solution, “Battle said. “There are always going to be more bears in that vicinity because of its location, and we can’t teach bears not to eat what they can find.”

A father and son who were involved in an illegal puppy farm in Moray have been banned from keeping animals for 10 years Samuel Ronald Hessin, 49, and Samuel Arthur Hessin, 22, admitted charges including animal welfare offences. It came after dozens of dogs were rescued in an operation involving the Scottish SPCA, police and Moray Council in the Keith area in 2019. At Elgin Sheriff Court, both men were also given 300 hours of unpaid work. They will also be under supervision for 18 months. Hessin snr previously admitted running an unlicensed pet shop which put scores of dogs up for sale. He also failed to provide a suitable environment for the dogs and puppies. Hessin jnr admitted misleading commercial practices and causing unnecessary suffering by failing to provide adequate care and treatment and obtain veterinary advice. The court heard how witnesses went to the Hessin farmhouse to view a puppy which was advertised on Gumtree. The puppy was described as "filthy". Due to their concerns for the puppy and conditions at the property they left and phoned the Scottish SPCA. A search warrant was applied for, and inspectors from the Scottish SPCA and officers from Moray Council and Police Scotland went to the property on 19 September 2019. Dogs and puppies of various breed types were found in the house, outbuildings and roaming free across the property. 'Great result' Many of the dogs and puppies were suffering from diseases, including skin conditions and eye infections, and a number of the adult dogs were kept in small crates. The Scottish SPCA removed dozens of dogs to care for them. Speaking following Thursday's sentencing, Andy Shanks, procurator fiscal for Grampian, Highland and Islands, said: "This was a case of widespread and indiscriminate neglect where dogs and puppies were caused suffering and pain." Scottish SPCA chief superintendent Mike Flynn said: "Securing a conviction is a great result. "But we believe anyone convicted of running a puppy farm should get a life ban on owning animals. Individuals prepared to put profit before welfare to an extent that dogs get seriously ill should not be allowed to keep animals."

Zookeepers at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee said they found the wallaby that went missing during a Wednesday move to an animal hospital, prompted by rising floodwaters around its outdoor enclosure. Honey Bunch, the 21-month-old wallaby, was found alive and well Friday morning hiding near his exhibit after a zookeeper noticed tracks leading toward a bush. Jessica Faulk, the zoo’s spokesperson, said that zookeepers suspect "he was there the whole time." “It was an area right behind the exhibit ... that had been searched multiple times in the past 36 hours, but he was camouflaged really well and hidden very well under a bush,” Faulk said. The forecast for severe storms across Tennessee on Wednesday had prompted zookeepers to closely monitor the wallabies and other Australian animals that were housed together in the new KangaZoo exhibit, Jessica Faulk, a spokesperson for the zoo, said Thursday in an email. A wallaby at the Memphis Zoo.Memphis Zoo Faulk said flooding had caused Lick Creek, which runs around the KangaZoo, to overflow its banks in the past, but "nothing that compares to the flooding we saw last night." "The team had been watching the creek for any signs of flooding. But, as with all flash flooding, it happens so fast," Faulk wrote. The zoo said in a news release, "We had staff at the zoo as it started to flood and began evacuation procedures." But when keepers tallied the animals at the hospital, they realized one was unaccounted for. "Immediately, zoo staff began searching for the missing animal during the massive storm. Zoo staff has continued actively searching for the animal this morning, however, the wallaby has still not been located," the release said. The Memphis Police Department assisted in the search. The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that the wallabies "had been overseen by zookeepers in a separate section in preparation for a VIP section featuring wallabies meant to open in April" after the KangaZoo's debut in March. Faulk said there are four wallabies in total. Any member of the public who sees the wallaby is encouraged not to approach it and to contact the Memphis Zoo at 901-333-6500. The zoo said wallabies are gentle and fairly skittish animals that are shorter than kangaroos. While some zoo escapees are never found, others like Honey Bunch are located. In March a zoo flamingo that made a wing for it during a Kansas storm in 2005 was spotted, again, on the Texas coast.

A dolphin found dead off Florida's Gulf Coast was stabbed with a "spear-like object," said federal officials who appealed for the public's help to bring the mammal's killer to justice. The bottlenose dolphin was recovered on March 24 on Fort Myers Beach with an obvious wound near the right eye, according to a statement by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "A necropsy, non-human autopsy, revealed the dolphin was impaled in the head with a spear-like object while alive," according to the statement. "Further examination indicated the wound, above the right eye, was inflicted before the animal died. The dolphin was an adult lactating female. The animal appeared to have died from the trauma, which occurred at or near the time of death." The nursing dolphin was likely being fed illegally by a human when it was fatally wounded, officials said. "Based on the shape, size and characteristics of the wound, it is suspected that the dolphin was impaled while in a begging position," the NOAA said. "Begging is not a natural behavior for dolphins and is frequently associated with illegal feeding." This dolphin, with its head above water and mouth open at the time it was stabbed, had likely become accustomed to illegal feedings from humans, an act that touches off multigenerational harm, officials said. "Those dolphins have learned to associate humans with food," NOAA Branch Chief Laura Engelby told NBC affiliate WBBH. "Once they learn that, they also teach it to other dolphins and they teach it to their babies." Human attacks on dolphins near the Gulf of Mexico are not new, with this slaying marking the 27th time since 2002 a dolphin has been found wounded by guns, arrows or the other sharp objects, according to the NOAA. The Marine Mammal Protection Act carries fines up to $100,000 for harassing, harming, killing or feeding wild dolphins.

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(The surprise attack happened too quickly for the man to use the bear spray he was carrying, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said) A hiker has been hospitalized after being mauled by a bear, believed to have been a grizzly, in the mountains of northwestern Wyoming, the state’s Game and Fish agency said Tuesday. The man was hiking Monday at high elevation on Francs Peak, a 13,000-foot summit southeast of Yellowstone National Park, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said Tuesday. The surprise attack happened too quickly for the man to use the bear spray he was carrying, officials said. The department didn’t release the identity of the man, who was being treated at a hospital in Billings, Montana. Game and Fish Regional Wildlife Supervisor Corey Class, reached by phone, declined to ask the hospital for the man’s medical condition. Department officials didn’t plan to pursue the bear, according to the statement.

(The husband and wife were injured before they were able to stab the bear with a kitchen knife. Eventually, the man was able to grab a firearm and kill the animal.) A Wisconsin couple say they killed a bear that attacked them inside their home after they spotted it eating from their bird feeder. The Taylor County Sheriff’s office said the attack happened around 11 p.m. Friday at a home near Medford in north-central Wisconsin. The couple told authorities that the bear charged through a window after they yelled at it to go away. Both the husband and wife were injured before they were able to stab the bear with a kitchen knife. Eventually, the man was able to grab a firearm and kill the animal. The man and woman were treated at a hospital for several bites and other injuries before being released. The couple’s children were asleep in their bedrooms at the time and were not injured. The sheriff’s office said the bear was an adult female, and one cub was seen running off as the bear ran toward the home. State wildlife officials took the bear for testing. Authorities have not specified what kind of bear it was.

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A 34-year-old man was injured Monday when he was gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park, officials said. The man was walking with his family on a boardwalk near the Giant Geyser at Old Faithful when a bull bison charged the group, according to the park. The family members did not leave the area and the bison continued to charge and gore the man, the park said. The man, from Colorado, was taken to an Idaho hospital with an injury to his arm, officials said. No information was released about his condition. The incident is the second this year that Yellowstone said involved a visitor "getting too close to the animal and the bison responding to the perceived threat by goring the individual.” On May 30, a bison gored a 25-year-old Ohio woman and tossed her 10 feet in the air after she approached the animal while it walked north of Old Faithful. The woman had puncture wound and other injuries, according to the park. Yellowstone says visitors should stay more than 25 yards away from all large animals — including bison, elk, and moose — and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves. Bison are unpredictable and and can run three times faster than humans, the park said. Yellowstone closed for a little more than a week earlier this month after severe flooding washed away roads and destroyed bridges. The south loop, where Old Faithful is, reopened June 22, but the north loop remains closed.

The preserved remains of a nearly whole 30,000-year-old baby woolly mammoth have been discovered in northwestern Canada. The baby mammoth was found frozen in permafrost in the Klondike gold fields in the Yukon. Government officials and representatives of the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin Traditional Territory, where the ancient animal was discovered, said it's the most complete and best-preserved woolly mammoth ever found in North America. The mummified mammoth was uncovered on June 21 by miners who were digging through the permafrost on Eureka Creek, according to the Yukon government. Dan Shugar, a geomorphologist and associate professor at the University of Calgary, helped extract the mummified mammoth. He tweeted Friday that the initiative was “the most exciting scientific thing I have ever been part of, bar none.” Researchers from the Yukon Geological Survey and the University of Calgary said the female baby likely died and became entombed in permafrost more than 30,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Elders of the First Nation Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin named the calf "Nun cho ga," which means "big baby animal" in the Hän language. “As an ice age paleontologist, it has been one of my life long dreams to come face to face with a real woolly mammoth. That dream came true today,” Grant Zazula, a paleontologist with the Government of Yukon, said Friday in a statement. It is only the second time a mammoth calf has been uncovered whole, according to the researchers. A separate, near-complete infant mammoth, dubbed "Lyuba," was discovered in 2007 in Siberia. Decades earlier, parts of a mammoth calf were found at a gold mine in Alaska in 1948. Studying the remains of Nun cho ga could help scientists better understand the lives and behaviors of woolly mammoths, the researchers said. The mummified calf could also yield new insights into other ice age animals that once lived in the Yukon, they said, including cave lions and giant steppe bison.

A great white shark from Canada is enjoying his early summer cruising up and down the Carolinas and was last spotted Monday near the Outer Banks, researchers said. Since October 2019, OCEARCH, a nonprofit ocean research group, has been following the movements of Ironbound, a great white shark that was captured, tagged and released near West Ironbound Island, Nova Scotia. When he was tagged, Ironbound was 12⅓ feet long and weighed a little less than 1,000 pounds. The great white has been fitted with a tracking device that pings when he emerges at the water's surface. He has been traced as far south as the Straits of Florida and as far west as the Gulf of Mexico. Ironbound has pinged six times this year. On March 21 and April 3, he emerged in waters off South Carolina and appeared to be headed north, with April 18 and 25 appearances off North Carolina, The shark is slightly ahead of schedule in his quest to get back to Nova Scotia, where he'll spend warm weather months feeding on seals to bulk up for the winter. Ironbound likely ran into some colder waters off the Jersey Shore and turned around to wait for a summer warmup before he continued his northbound trek, researchers said. "They hit that cold, cold water that's trapped against the beach, and they're like, 'Oh man, it's too early,'" explorer Chris Fischer, OCEARCH's founder, said Tuesday. "They've got to wait for the water temperature to get warm enough so when they slide in there to eat the seals that it's not so cold that the energy to stay warm exceeds the energy they get from the seal."

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A swimmer in California was attacked by a shark Wednesday and suffered what police described as significant injuries. The attack happened at around 10:35 a.m. off Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove, a city of around 15,000 in Monterey County, south of San Jose, police said. Police said in a statement that other swimmers jumped in to help the man. Officials launched an aerial drone to search for the shark, but it has not been spotted. All beaches in Pacific Grove will be closed until Saturday as a precaution, the police department said. Pacific Grove City Council member Joe Amelia told NBC affiliate KSBW of Salinas that the man was a surfer and that he suffered serious injuries to his stomach and a leg. A shark attacked a man Wednesday near Lovers Point Beach, Calif., police say.Giovanni Sercia Shark attacks on humans in California are rare, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. Get the Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. This site is protected by recaptcha Privacy Policy | Terms of Service It is the second case of an injury from a shark in California this year, department spokesperson Kirsten Macintyre said. The first was at San Miguel Island in February, when a diver suffered a minor injury to a foot. There have been 203 encounters between humans and sharks in California since 1950, and Wednesday’s incident was the 109th in which a person was injured, she said. In the 2020s, two people have died and six others have suffered nonfatal injuries in encounters with sharks in California, according to the Fish and Wildlife Department’s website. Wednesday’s attack was the second recorded incident with a shark at Lovers Point. The first was in 1952, and the victim died, Macintyre said. DNA tests will confirm what kind of shark was involved in Wednesday's incident, she said.

A child was hospitalized after being stabbed in the chest by a catfish's stinger and experiencing difficulty breathing in Florida, according to fire officials. The child, whose name, age and gender were not released, was stabbed Monday in New Port Richey, about 38 miles northwest of Tampa, Pasco County Fire Rescue said in a tweet. NBC affiliate WFLA of Tampa reported the child was a boy was under the age of 10 who was stabbed at a pond. The stinger entered 1 to 1.5 inches into the chest cavity, causing the child to experience shortness of breath, fire officials said. Get the Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. This site is protected by recaptcha Privacy Policy | Terms of Service Authorities responded to the incident and listed the child as a trauma alert, according to the Pasco fire tweet. The child was flown to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa for treatment. While headed to the hospital with their mother, the child “experienced difficulty breathing,” officials said. No further details were released and the child's current condition is unknown. NBC News has reached out to fire officials for more details. Catfish do not have conventional stingers but sting with their sharp and pointed pectoral and dorsal fins, according to OutdoorSkilled, a blog on outdoor activities. Younger catfish are considered more dangerous because their fins are sharper at a young age.

A man looking for Frisbees along a Florida lakeshore was found dead Tuesday in an incident police are investigating as an "apparent" alligator attack, authorities said. Largo police on Wednesday identified the victim as 47-year-old Sean Thomas McGuinness, who died in the incident at Taylor Lake in John S. Taylor Park. "At this time, detectives believe the victim was looking for frisbees in the water and a gator was involved," Largo police said on Tuesday. "There are posted signs of no swimming in the lake." Police on Wednesday said they believe McGuinness was killed Monday night before a dog walker found the victim's body on the shoreline at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. "While the medical examiner will determine the exact cause of death, it was apparent that McGuinness suffered injuries related to alligators in the lake," police said in a statement. "Detectives believe this occurred in the nighttime hours as McGuinness did not appear to have been in the lake for a long period of time before he was discovered the morning of May 31, 2022." Florida Fish and Wildlife trappers rushed to the scene, about 5 miles south of downtown Clearwater, officials said. Get the Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. A camera crew from NBC affiliate WFLA of Tampa was recording when trappers tracked down and removed an alligator from the water Tuesday evening, the station reported. The reptile was euthanized, and a necropsy will be performed to determine if it was involved in the attack, WFLA said. Florida Fish and Wildlife said in a statement, "Our sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of the deceased." The park is home to a disc golf course where flying discs are thrown into baskets. As in golf, the player who needs the fewest number of throws to put a disc in each basket along the course wins. Some park regulars told WFLA it isn't unusual to see people fishing in the water for discs that went off-course, despite the park's warnings that suggest mortal danger could exist below the surface.

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SAN DIEGO — Freeway the wayward sea lion, who is continuing his exploration of the city, was found waddling in a creek roughly a mile from the ocean, SeaWorld officials said Monday. The mammal has been in urban — decidedly non-seaside — locations before: the median of a busy freeway, near a delicatessen and at a busy boulevard. Freeway was pulled out of Chollas Creek, a concrete-lined stormwater channel, on April 7, SeaWorld San Diego said in its statement Monday. Rescuers took him to the park's Rescue Center, where he remained. Freeway was headed away from the marine traffic of San Diego Bay . San Diego’s wayward sea lion, now named Freeway, was discovered in a storm drain in a pretty dense, urban part of town more than a mile from ocean water.Seaworld Rescue Team After the sea lion’s previous caper, in which he was found weaving in lanes of State Route 94 before he was plucked from a median about 4 miles from San Diego Bay on Jan. 7, rescuers gave Freeway his name. Get the Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. This site is protected by recaptcha Privacy Policy | Terms of Service He was rehabilitated at SeaWorld alongside other sea lions that may have spent too much time away from the Pacific, the park said after the freeway episode. He dipped back into frigid waters in early February after he was nudged off a small boat by animal rescuers. Last month's storm drain rescue was the seventh time SeaWorld rescuers got a report of Freeway’s exploring the state’s second-largest city. While other sea lions have been caught loitering near diners in La Jolla or coming uncomfortably close to beachgoers, none in recent times appears to have amassed the inland mileage of Freeway. Freeway is grounded for now. SeaWorld officials said Monday they're keeping him for further assessment. California’s sea lion po[CENSORED]tion has been growing enough that San Diego officials have closed some areas po[CENSORED]r with tourists to give the animals space.

A mountain lion cub wandered into a California high school Wednesday and was being trapped in a classroom by a custodian before being safely removed hours later, has been, officials said. The mountain lion that made its way into Pescadero High School in San Mateo County is 6 to 8 months old and likely an orphan, according to the Oakland Zoo, which is now caring for the animal. The cub was discovered just before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday as the custodial staff was preparing to open the school, a San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said. It was removed Wednesday afternoon and had to be tranquilized for capture and transport, the zoo said. "No students or staff were ever in danger as the school was not in session yet," the spokesperson said. It’s not clear how the mountain lion entered the school in Pescadero, a small community near the coast around 30 miles west of San Jose. Get the Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. A custodian shut the door of the English classroom, keeping the cub inside as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife was called. They tried to “let it out on its own,” but the mountain lion did not leave because was likely “lost and scared,” the sheriff’s spokesperson said. Students and staff were sent home for the day as a precaution, the sheriff’s office said. The mountain lion will be sent to a zoo, the Oakland Zoo said. It said the animal is too young to survive alone — mountain lions spend their first two years learning from their mothers — and no other mountain lions have been seen in the area.

BIG BAR, Calif. — A woman who was attacked by a mountain lion in Northern California says her dog jumped to her defense and was badly wounded in protecting her. “I don't think I will ever be able to live up to how amazing and loyal she is to me,” Erin Wilson told the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday. Wilson, 24, lives in rural Trinity County, about four hours northwest of Sacramento. On Monday, she drove to the Trinity River near unincorporated Big Bar to take an afternoon stroll with Eva, her 2 1/2-year-old Belgian Malinois. Wilson was on a path with Eva a few yards ahead when a mountain lion lunged and swiped at her, scratching Wilson’s left shoulder through her jacket, she said. “I yelled ‘Eva!’ and she came running,” Wilson said. “And she hit that cat really hard.” The dog weighs 55 pounds and was outclassed by the cougar but battled fiercely. “They fought for a couple seconds, and then I heard her start crying,” Wilson said. The cougar bit the dog’s head and wouldn’t let go, even when Wilson attacked the animal with rocks, sticks and her fists, tried to choke it and gouge its eyes. The cat tried to kick her off, scratching her with its back paws. Wilson said she ran back to her pickup truck, grabbed a tire iron and flagged down a passing car. That driver, Sharon Houston, told the Bee that she grabbed a long length of PVC pipe and pepper spray. Together, the women began beating the lion, which had dragged the dog off the trail. Houston finally sprayed the animal with the pepper spray and it fled, Houston said. Wilson was treated for non-life-threatening scratches, scrapes and bruises. Wilson’s husband, Connor Kenny, told SFGATE that Eva had two skull fractures, a punctured sinus cavity and severe damage to her left eye. The dog had seizures on the drive to the vet but stabilized overnight. “We are hopeful she will pull through this,” Kenny wrote. “She’s a fighter, clearly.” The dog was in guarded condition, said a statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Wildlife officers have collected samples from the wounds for DNA analysis and authorities will try to trap the cougar, the department said. Mountain lion attacks on humans are rare but in such cases the animals usually are killed if they are caught.