Re: 鈥淢om saves son, 7, from cougar attack in Lake Cowichan,鈥� April 2.
The report is of an extraordinary repeat of similar past events in the same place.
On Sept. 23, 1916, Anthony Farrer, 8, and his cousin, Doreen Ashburnham, 11, left their homes at Cowichan Lake, walking through the forest to catch their ponies.
Soon afterward, they were suddenly attacked by a cougar in the forest. It first jumped on Doreen鈥檚 back, badly chewing her shoulder. Young Tony fought to defend her, flailing at the creature with his horse bridle to drive it off the girl. It then attacked the boy, in a running fight for 200聽metres down the trail.
The creature ripped the boy鈥檚 scalp from his skull and would likely have killed him if Doreen had not bravely intervened by punching it with her fists to distract its attention, despite being badly chewed on her arms and back. The children鈥檚 brave resistance eventually disheartened the cougar and it ambled away.
Their mother rowed across Cowichan Lake in a storm to get medical aid from a neighbouring doctor. Doreen and Anthony were so badly injured they required long terms in hospital, and the six-foot-long cougar was hunted down and killed.
The young cousins鈥� remarkable courage came to the attention of Britain鈥檚 King George V, and they were presented with the Albert Medal, making them the youngest recipients of the British Empire鈥檚 highest civilian award for bravery.
Anthony sadly died in an accidental shooting, and Doreen became a military aircraft ferry-pilot during the Second World War.
Sidney Allinson
Colwood
