A sixteen-year-old camp counselor fought-off a cougar to rescue a six-year-old boy. The boy was injured and rushed to the hospital. The cougar was shot and killed. The victim, Danny Sands, received wounds to the neck and scrapes to his back and stomach, but he survived the encounter.

Danny was on his last day of a week-long summer day camp. On that day, thirty-seven campers and three counselors went on a hike through the mountain wilderness to learn about nature—about the kinds of trees, plants and animals that live on the mountain.

About thirty minutes into the hike, Danny remembers hearing something behind him. He turned around just in time to see a cougar pouncing on him. Allen Parsels, the camp counselor at the head of the group, heard the children scream. He immediately turned around and saw something attacking Danny.

“I couldn’t tell what was happening. At first, I thought it was a big dog, and then I saw the cougar’s face. I was totally shocked,” Allen said. The cougar had pounced on Danny from behind, grabbing the child around the neck and head, Parsels said, forcing the boy to his knees.

Allen, without hesitation, ran to the boy to fight-off the cougar. “He didn’t even think, He just sprang into action,” said one of the fellow hikers. By the time Allen had reached the boy, the cougar was dragging the boy towards the woods.

But Allen was able to get to them and began kicking and hitting the cougar. “I was just kicking and hitting like a wild man. I wasn’t gonna’ stop till that cougar let go.” The cougar finally backed off a short distance, and Allen ran forward and picked up the boy and began administering first aid. "I was really scared," Allen said. "It's the scariest thing that's ever happened to me."

Luckily, there was a camp maintenance worker with a truck nearby. He was able to drive Allen and Danny down the mountainside. In the meantime, another counselor had called 911 and an ambulance was waiting at the bottom of the mountain.

Danny was taken to the nearest hospital where he received stitches to the bite wounds on his neck. The scratch wounds from the cougars claws were cleaned up, sterilized, and then covered. Danny’s parents were called and had been waiting for him at the hospital, so after Danny’s treatment, he was sent home with his parents.