Westchester Native Survives Deadly Washington Cougar Attack

The harrowing story made national news this week of a Westchester man and his friend who were mauled by a mountain lion while biking.

Last weekend outside Seattle, two bikers were attacked by a mountain lion while biking through the Cascade Mountains. As major news outlets have been reporting, the lone survivor was an Armonk native by the name of Isaac Sederbaum.

Sederbaum is a graduate of Byram Hills High School and later Bard College just up the way in Dutchess. He was biking with Friends on Bikes Seattle Chapter Leader SJ Brooks when a cougar began stalking the pair. Though they stood their ground and shouted to scare off the animal, it charged. Sederbaum reportedly hit the mountain lion with his bike and it appeared to run off, but pounced again as the pair began to leave.

Sederbaum told rescuers that the cat had his entire head in its mouth and was whipping him around like it would typical prey, and let go only to chase a fleeing Brooks. Bloody, Sederbaum managed to ride to a spot with cellphone service and called 911. Brooks, tragically, was killed. Sheriff’s deputies tracked the cougar, which was then euthanized by Department of Fish and Wildlife officials.

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Sederbaum is currently stable and recovering from his injuries. A GoFundMe page has been started to help cover his medical costs, surpassing its original $5,000 goal in just the week since the attack.

Officials say this is only the second fatal cougar attack in the last 100 years, and the first since 1924. The Department of Fish and Wildlife noted that Brooks and Sederbaum did everything appropriate to attempt to ward off the lion, and has prominently displayed their article on mountain lions in their Living with Wildlife web guide.

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