SEATTLE — Four women who rescued their friend from the jaws of an attacking cougar were honored Thursday in a ceremony at Seattle City Hall.
Annie Bilotta, Tisch Schmidt-Williams, Aune Tietz and Erica Wolf were presented with the Carnegie Medal, which recognizes individuals for "acts of lifesaving done at extraordinary risk to the rescuer."
"They focused on keeping me alive and failure was not going to be an option for them," Keri Bergere said at the ceremony. "No words will ever be enough to thank you."
The four women were biking on a trail near Fall City along with Bergere in February when a cougar pounced on 60-year-old Bergere.
"From the time we saw the cougars to the time it took Keri off her bike was about three seconds," Bilotta told KING 5 earlier this year. "We didn't have a chance to face off with them to scare them away or anything."
The 75-pound cougar bit into Bergere's jaw and inserted its claws into her neck and shoulders. The other four, all between the ages of 51 and 64, immediately sprung into action and tried to fight off the cougar.
"I just remember getting tackled from this side and ending up at the other side of the road pinned to the ground and hearing all the ladies rallying and fighting for my life," Bergere previously told KING 5 in an interview.
Bilotta got one of the animal's paws off Bergere and stuck her hand into the cougar's mouth to attempt to pry open its jaw, battling with it for 15 minutes. When the cougar re-adjusted its bite, Bergere managed to get away.
The four women then managed to pin the cougar down with Wolf's bicycle. Eventually, a fish and wildlife officer arrived, shooting and killing the cougar.
Bergere had multiple jaw fractures, facial nerve damage and lacerations all over her body and was taken to the hospital. She spent five days at Harborview Medical Center following the attack.