美国国家公共电台 NPR--Eva, the hero dog, beats back a mountain lion that attacked her owner on a hike

Eva, the hero dog, beats back a mountain lion that attacked her owner on a hike

Transcript¹

A lot of dog owners would do just about anything for their pet, expecting only cuddles and goofy looks in return.

But earlier this week, a dog nearly gave her life to save her owner from a rare mountain lion attack on a hiking trail in remote Northern California.

Erin Wilson, 24, a waitress, had just hopped² out of her truck at a roadside picnic area and was heading down a trail to the Trinity River, when she heard something in the bushes.

"I'm just walking down the slope and the dog had run ahead of me. And I turn around and there's this cat just growling³ at me and it reaches up and it swipes at me," she said. "At first, I was just like, Wait, what? And I think I screamed and I shouted for Eva and she came running."

Eva is Wilson's 2 1/2-year-old Belgian Malinois. The breed is highly intelligent and agile⁴. The dogs are bred for self-defense and often used as police dogs. If they don't have work and space to roam, they get neurotic⁵.

Wilson describes the breed as "a German shepherd on steroids or crack or cocaine⁶. They're just driven dogs, a little crazy. If they don't have something to do they will destroy their environment," by chewing or digging.

But in that desperate moment at the riverside picnic area, Eva's canine⁷ instincts kicked in. She came running to protect a member of her pack who had just been scratched by a wild animal, and tackled the cougar⁸.

"They tussled for a couple of seconds, but he got her pretty quickly," Wilson said, in an interview from the stockroom at her restaurant.

She said the mountain lion looked thin and desperate, but she doesn't want to paint it as a villain⁹ in her story. She thinks it was hungry because drought conditions make it harder to hunt for deer, its preferred food. It was just doing what it evolved to do. She acknowledged that, at about 115 pounds, she's easy prey¹⁰.

Capt. Patrick Foy, a game warden¹¹ with California's Department of Fish and Wildlife, who is investigating the incident, says mountain lion attacks on people are highly unusual because the animals are so shy.

"The majority of California is mountain lion habitat. But it's really, really uncommon¹² for this to happen. I've seen just a handful over the years, over my career of 25 years," he said. "We don't recommend that people change their plans to go out and recreate in the wild."

But once the cougar got its jaws¹⁴ around Eva's neck, the 55-pound dog was in trouble.

"If you take a really close look at the anatomy¹⁵ of a lion's skull¹⁶, it is incredibly well adapted to create significant crushing power," Foy said. "That is how they kill their prey. They typically would grasp on to the head or neck and simply crush that prey animal to death. That unfortunately, was what was happening to poor Eva the dog."

After the initial shock of being scratched by a mountain lion, Wilson started throwing rocks to get the cat to drop the dog.

"My fight mode kicked in and I started picking up rocks and I was bashing in its skull as hard as I could," said Wilson, an avid¹⁷ outdoorswoman who once lived in Alaska. "I didn't even feel it at the time. I knew to choke it, go for its eyes, hurt it."

Then she dashed up the riverbank to her truck, grabbed a crowbar, and flagged down a passing motorist, Sharon Houston, for help. When Wilson got back, the cougar had dragged Eva several yards into the bushes.

Houston grabbed a PVC pipe from her trunk. Together she and Wilson hollered and hit the lion until it released the dog and retreated. Eva leapt up and ran into the road, and Wilson piled her into her pickup¹⁸.

On the hour-long drive down a twisty mountain road to the vet¹⁹, the dog started convulsing, and Wilson realized her beloved companion's injuries were serious and life-threatening.

"That's when I started really speeding," she said. "I definitely passed a bunch of people in double yellows. I did not give a f***."

Eva's skull and jaw¹³ were fractured, and her eye was swollen²⁰ shut. She spent almost a week recovering at a veterinary clinic. She did not need surgery but might lose sight in her left eye.

Wilson set up a GoFundMe to cover the vet bills. The story was written up by a reporter on a local blog, then picked up by The Sacramento Bee. Soon donations started pouring in, far exceeding what Wilson and her husband needed to cover the costs of Eva's recovery.

Eva came home Thursday night to a new doggie bed and new stuffed animals, which Wilson says she'll probably rip apart as soon as her jaw is healed. The chef at Wilson's restaurant is saving a prime cut of beef for when Eva is ready to enjoy it.

"I'm kind of blaming myself a bit about all this. Because of her, I'm unharmed and because of me, she has two fractures in her skull and she might be blind," Wilson said, explaining that she's still grappling with what might have happened to her beloved companion, an animal that had her own Instagram account, even before her heroic act.

"I knew Eva was capable of being fierce and protective. I just didn't ever think that she would have to answer the call like that. Just really hug your dogs, people. Hug your pets, hug your family."

Fish and Wildlife staff swabbed Wilson and Eva's wounds for saliva²¹ samples, which confirmed that it was a mountain lion attack, Foy said. Game wardens²² and partners are working to trap the animal.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 hopped   

跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花

参考例句：

• He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
• He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车，向市区开去。

3 growling   

n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼

参考例句：

• We heard thunder growling in the distance. 我们听见远处有隆隆雷声。
• The lay about the deck growling together in talk. 他们在甲板上到处游荡，聚集在一起发牢骚。

4 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

5 neurotic   

adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者

参考例句：

• Nothing is more distracting than a neurotic boss. 没有什么比神经过敏的老板更恼人的了。
• There are also unpleasant brain effects such as anxiety and neurotic behaviour.也会对大脑产生不良影响，如焦虑和神经质的行为。

6 cocaine   

n.可卡因，古柯碱（用作局部麻醉剂）

参考例句：

• That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
• Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。

7 canine   

adj.犬的，犬科的

参考例句：

• The fox is a canine animal.狐狸是犬科动物。
• Herbivorous animals have very small canine teeth,or none.食草动物的犬牙很小或者没有。

8 cougar   

n.美洲狮；美洲豹

参考例句：

• I saw a cougar slinking toward its prey.我看到一只美洲狮正在潜随猎物。
• I have never seen a cougar.我从未见过美洲豹。

9 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

10 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

11 warden   

n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人

参考例句：

• He is the warden of an old people's home.他是一家养老院的管理员。
• The warden of the prison signed the release.监狱长签发释放令。

12 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

13 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

14 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

15 anatomy   

n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织

参考例句：

• He found out a great deal about the anatomy of animals.在动物解剖学方面，他有过许多发现。
• The hurricane's anatomy was powerful and complex.对飓风的剖析是一项庞大而复杂的工作。

16 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

17 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。

18 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

19 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

20 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

21 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

22 wardens   

n.看守人( warden的名词复数 )；管理员；监察员；监察官

参考例句：

• Air raid wardens in tin hats self-importantly stalked the streets. 空袭民防队员戴着钢盔神气活现地走在街上昂首阔步。 来自辞典例句
• The game wardens tranquillized the rhinoceros with a drugged dart. 猎物保护区管理员用麻醉射器让犀牛静了下来。 来自辞典例句