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9-year-old attacked by cougar declared ‘Bravest Girl on Earth’

STEVENS COUNTY, Wash. — A 9-year-old girl named Lily Kryzhanivskyy who was viciously mauled and badly injured by a cougar north of Spokane and needed 400 stitches, was declared the “Bravest Girl on Earth” by the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office.

Recently, Lily was invited to go accompany Bart George, the wildlife manager for the Kalispel Tribe, on a research study that focused on keeping cougars from getting comfortable around people and livestock.

Lily helped to collar and release a tranquilized cougar back into the wild as a form of therapy to understand them better.

She was attacked while attending a camp near Fruitland and was left with cuts and scratches all over her face and body.

Lily was taken to a hospital in Spokane and received some extensive therapy and medical treatment in Seattle after being disfigured.

The cougar, a sub-adult between one and two years old, was found and killed.

Its carcass is being tested to see if it had rabies and examined to understand why it attacked, as cougar attacks are rare.

Wildlife officials said there have only been about 20 cougar attacks in all of Washington in the last century.

According to the research crew, Lily not only faced her fear during the research study, but became very interested in the science behind the study.