Conservation officers have shot and killed a cougar that attacked a three-year-old B.C. girl while she was picking berries with her mother Tuesday evening, June 16, 2009.

The little girl, identified only as Maya Lee, was walking with her mother near their home in the Brackendale area north of Squamish, British Columbia, Canada around 6 p.m. when the 80-pound cougar pounced.

Maya’s mother, Maureen Lee, said she turned around and saw the cougar “holding (Maya’s) head with his paws.”

“I jumped and tried to wedge myself in between and jumped on her,” Lee told CTV News. “I stood up and pushed him backwards and he just flung back and I just picked her up and started running as fast as I could.”

The girl was treated and released at a local hospital.

The animal was tracked with dogs, located, shot and killed, CTV British Columbia reported late
Tuesday night.

The incident is the second cougar attack in the area in less than a week. Last Friday, June 12, 2009, a cougar ripped a dog from its leash as it walked with its owner along a hiking trail. Conservation officers killed that cougar as well after they found it to be emaciated and in poor health.

So far this month, there have been 30 cougar sightings in the area, compared to only two during the same time last year, reports CTV.