BU grad student killed by cougar while mountain biking in Seattle

SEATTLE - Two mountain bikers were attacked by a cougar in Seattle while mountain biking, one of which was a Boston University graduate student who was killed in the attack.

The bikers were riding in the woods in North Bend, about thirty miles east of Seattle on Saturday when the cougar attacked.

"Shocked, I mean it still doesn’t feel real," said Colin Gallagher, a friend of one of the victims.

The two mountain bikers did what they were supposed to do when they noticed a mountain lion tailing them on a trail east of Seattle.

They got off their bikes. They faced the beast, shouted and tried to spook it. After it charged, one even smacked the cougar with his bike, and it ran off.

It wasn't enough, authorities said.

As they stood trying to catch their breath, the cougar returned, biting one of them on the head and shaking him, Capt. Alan Myers of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police said Sunday.

The second cyclist ran, and the animal dropped the first victim and pounced on him, killing them and dragging them back to what appeared to be its den.

"They did everything they were supposed to do," King County sheriff's Sgt. Ryan Abbott said. "But something was wrong with this cougar."

The 31-year-old Seattle man who was bitten first, Isaac Sederbaum, survived. Rescuers flew him to a hospital, where he was in satisfactory condition Sunday, Harborview Medical Center spokeswoman Susan Gregg said.

Myers identified the deceased victim, a 32-year-old Seattle resident, as S.J. Brooks.

According to the Seattle Times, Brooks was a research assistant at William James College in Massachusetts and took graduate classes in the history of art and architecture at Boston University in 2016.

Gallagher told Boston 25 News Brooks worked at a Cambridge bike shop for several years, filling every role, from mechanic to sales staff.

"Everyone who had a chance to know SJ is heartbroken," said Gallagher. "[He was] wonderful, sarcastic sense of humor, just a really great person to be around."

SJ identified as non-binary - neither female nor male. Gallagher says SJ was an advocate for the transgender and queer community at Broadway Bicycle, an industry typically dominated by white men.

"SJ wanted the bike shop to be a comfortable place for all people to be in, which I think a lot of shops aren’t," said Gallagher. "SJ was incredibly warm, friendly and advocate for the bike shop being for all people."

He was also the director of operations at Hillman City Collaboratory, a place where grass-roots organizations share space.

The attack Saturday near North Bend, in the Cascade Mountain foothills 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Seattle, was the first fatal cougar attack in the state in 94 years. Myers said Sunday that the cougar was underweight - about 100 pounds (45 kilograms), when a typical 3-year-old male in the area would be 140 to 180 pounds (63 to 81 kilograms).

After the cougar attacked Brooks, a badly bloodied Sederbaum managed to get on his bike and ride off. He rode for 2 miles (3 kilometers) before he could get a cellphone signal to call 911.

When rescuers arrived, it took about half an hour to find Brooks, who was dead with the cougar on top of him in what appeared to be a den-like area. An officer shot at it, and it ran off. Several hours later, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife agents used dogs to track it to a nearby tree. They shot and killed it.

Authorities plan to match DNA taken from the animal with DNA from the victims to be certain they killed the right cougar. They sent the animal's carcass to a veterinary lab at Washington State University for a necropsy to determine what might have been wrong with it.

There are an estimated 2,000 cougars in Washington. Until the 1960s, the state paid hunters a bounty for killing them. Now, it allows 250 to be hunted in 50 designated zones.

While they are sometimes known to kill livestock or pets, and though one even found its way into a park in Seattle in 2009, encounters with people in Washington state are rare.

Attacks have become more common as people increasingly encroach on the animals' territory. In North America, there have been about 25 deadly attacks and 95 nonfatal attacks reported in the past century, but more attacks have been reported in the U.S. West and Canada over the past 20 years than in the previous 80, according to Fish and Wildlife.

Experts say that people encountering the big cats in the wild should stop and pick up small children immediately. Because running and rapid movements can trigger the animal's prey drive, don't run. Instead, face the cougar, speak firmly and slowly back away - appearing as large as possible, such as by standing on a rock or stump or opening a sweatshirt or jacket.

Keep your eyes on the animal and become more assertive if it doesn't back off. And if it does attack, fight back.

"The idea is to convince the cougar that you are not prey, but a potential danger," Fish and Wildlife advises on its website.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Cox Media Group