Lily A. Kryzhanivskyy, 9, from Fruitland, Washington, was on a family camping trip playing in the woods.
Lily and her friends were playing hide-and-seek in the woods and when she “jumped out to surprise her friends” when a cougar suddenly attacked.
Lily fought the beast as her friends ran and adults rushed to the scene to find Lily severely injured.
The brave 9-year-old required surgery and spent some time in the ICU.
“She is fully aware of what happened to her, she can speak clearly, think clearly, move her arms and legs. She talks to her mom and dad, but Lots of recovery ahead Praying for full recovery without any side effects Thank you for all support and every dollar. For every prayer God is good,” Lily’s Aunt Alex wrote.
“The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is currently reviewing every detail of this incident to understand what happened and waiting for necropsy and other results from the deceased cougar at this time,” Lehman adds.
“Wild animals don’t care to be around humans any more than we want to have close encounters with them,” said Capt. Mike Sprecher in the release.
“In this instance, this little girl did nothing wrong,” Lehman said. “It happened so quickly, and there’s nothing she could have done to prevent it.”
She added that if you are confronted by a cougar make yourself look as big as possible and if attacked, “Fight back as hard as you can and try to stay on your feet.”
“Do not turn around. Don’t take your eyes off the animal,” Lehman added. “Don’t run.”
The cougar responsible for the attack was captured and euthanized.
