Puma attack suspected of the death of a hiker from Oregon vanished near Mount Hood

By LIZZY ACKER and EVERTON BAILEY JR.

A missing woman from Gresham, found dead on a hiking trail near Mount Hood on Monday, was probably killed by a cougar a few days before her discovery, authorities said Tuesday. This is the first deadly wild cougar attack confirmed by the state.

An autopsy determined that the injuries found on the body of 55-year-old Diana Bober were caused by a large animal, but DNA samples were sent to the Oregon Fish & Wildlife Forensics laboratory. spokesman Brian Wolfer agency.

"It's possible that something else is responsible, but at this point everything indicates that a cougar is responsible," he said.

Wolfer said the tests will not be immediately clear and wildlife officials are looking for the responsible animal. It's still not clear when Bober was attacked, but it probably happened a few days before his discovery, according to Wolfer.

Oregon has 6,600 cougars and they usually travel alone, said Wolfer. The state's wildlife department receives about 400 complaints a year from cougars damaging livestock or threatening the safety of people or pets, he added. Attacks on people are rare.

The last time a cougar killed a person in Oregon, it was in 2013, when an animal guard in a large cat sanctuary in the Sherwood area was damaged while that he was cleaning an enclosure. Also in the Pacific Northwest, a man was killed and another seriously injured in May by a cougar while riding a mountain bike in Washington.

Bober was reported missing by family members on Friday after being without news since August 29, Gresham police said. Her family described her as a passionate hiker who frequented Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge region.

"She was going hiking several times a week," Bober's sister Alison Bober told The Oregonian / OregonLive on Tuesday. "She was very independent and always felt safe on the trails."

Bober seems to have fought the animal that attacked her, said her sister from her home in Virginia. "Although she died of her wounds, the wild animal did not come back to her," said Allison Bober.

Diana Bober's car was found Saturday at Zigzag Ranger Station, about 17 miles east of Sandy. It was discovered by search and rescue teams two days later, two miles from the Mount Hood National Forest Ranger Station, Welches, on the Hunchback Trail. The public has also been advised to avoid the area.

According to an online trail guide, the Hunchback Trail traverses the heart of the Salmon-Huckleberry wilderness and crosses the Hunchback Forest Ridge.

Wolfer said that there appeared to be no immediate danger to the public, but hikers should be aware of their surroundings and travel as a couple or in a group and keep their animals and their children nearby. Cougars are most likely to come out at dawn or dusk, he said.

Diana Bober moved to Gresham in 2015 and was self-employed as an Advisor, a career that allowed her to have a flexible schedule and spend time hiking, said her sister. Their father worked for the government and she and her sister were born abroad. The family moved frequently and ended up in Texas, where the girls went to high school and college.

After graduation, Diana Bober moved to Dallas and then to New York, hoping to take action. From New York, she went to Los Angeles, looking to get into film. She then moved to Las Vegas, where she played Texas Hold 'Em in a professional manner.

She became disenchanted in Las Vegas and after visiting different places to live, Diana came to Portland with her mother and fell in love with the place.

Alison Bober said the family did not plan a memorial for her sister because her friends are friends. If someone wants to pay him a tribute, they can "just find one of the open trails and just think of the natural world," said Alison.

"She would say you have to live your life without fear," she said, "nothing in life is really safe.

In the end, Alison remembers her sister as a loyal friend who would do just about anything for the people she loved and an honest person, who had a lot of adventures.

Then, finally, her sister said "she fought a cougar".

Jim Ryan and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh of The Oregonian / OregonLive contributed to this report.

– Lizzy Acker

[email protected]
503-221-8052; @lizzzyacker

– Everton Bailey Jr.

[email protected]
503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey