Hiker found dead in Mount Hood killed by cougar: officials

The hiker who disappeared in Mount Hood at the end of August and was found dead at the bottom of a ravine Monday was probably killed by a cougar, according to authorities.

Diana Bober's 55-year-old body was found on a 200-foot embankment on the famed Oregon Mountain Hunchback Trail on Monday, the Clackamas County Office said on Tuesday.

Bober was last seen on August 29 when she went for a hike on the trail. His backpack was found by two hikers the next day and his car was left in a parking lot at the foot of the mountain.

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Craig Roberts, the Clackamas County Sheriff, made the surprising announcement at a press conference later that Bober was probably killed by a wild cougar, also known as a mountain lion or puma .

"She was found dead on a hiking trail about two miles from the Zigzag guard post on September 10," Roberts said. "I offer my sincere condolences to the Bober family and their friends for their loss.

"I want to tell you that Diana Bober's autopsy was today, it was determined that she had died of an apparently animal attack," he explained. "His injuries are indicative of what the experts say is likely to be a cougar.We await final confirmation of the type of animal responsible for this attack."

Bober said that the fatal attack was the first recorded by a cougar in the state.

AP

"As this is an unprecedented event in Oregon, we do not believe that the threat posed by cougars to the public is greater than today," said Brian Wolfer, head of the Fish and Fish Department. of Oregon's wildlife. "However, we do not know and can not quantify the threat that this particular animal may represent to the public."

The Hunchback Trail has been closed to hikers as a precaution.

Wolfer said that about 6,600 cougars live in the state, and reports that they threaten livestock or pets are common, but human attacks are unknown. Authorities continue to search for the animal. Male cougars can reach 120 to 200 pounds and usually hunt deer, elk, hares and wild birds, such as turkeys.

Bober is the second person in the northwest to die in a cougar attack this year. A cougar killed a mountain biker in North Bend, Washington, in May, and attacked a second runner.

Officials killed this mountain lion after the attack.