James A. Baker rescued John C. Simpkins from an attack by a cougar, Clinton, British Columbia, March 5, 1965. In a pasture on Baker’s ranch, a cougar weighing 120 pounds ran from a clump of trees and pounced on John, 15, ranch hand. Knocking him to a prone position, the cougar grasped the right side of his forehead in its mouth while clawing at his arm. Baker, 44, rancher, ran 80 feet to where the cougar then was lying on top of John. Straddling the animal, Baker sat on its back and pushed his knees forcibly into its sides to keep it from clawing John with its hind paws. John attempted to push the cougar’s head back. The animal retained its hold and pressed its head more firmly against that of John’s. Baker removed a knife from his pocket and opened its three-inch blade. He plunged the knife as far as it would go into the neck of the cougar, attenpting to strike its jugular vein. As Baker withdrew the knife, the cougar released its hold on John, lurched from under Baker, and climbed into a tree. Watching to make certain the cougar did not follow them, Baker aided John to the ranch house and drove him to a hospital. John required about 20 sutures for wounds in his forehead and arm. He was hospitalized and recovered.
48026 – 4988
48026-4988