Woman fights off cougar attacking her son, prying its jaws open. 'Mom instinct,' she says

A Canadian woman rushed to save her son after a cougar attacked him last week, prying the animal's jaws off her child, according to local news reports.

How did she do it? "Mom instinct" and prayer, she told CTV News.

Chelsea Lockhart's son was playing outside the family's Vancouver Island home Friday when she heard a fence rattle in the backyard. Then came sounds of a struggle.

The mother bolted outside to see her son, Zachery, 7, on the ground with a young cougar attached to his arm, the network reported. She had no time to lose.

"I had a mom instinct, right?" Lockhart said. "I just leaped on it and tried to pry its mouth open."

With her fingers fish-hooked inside the cougar's mouth, Lockhart began "praying in tongues" and "crying out to the Lord," she told CTV News.

"Three sentences into me praying, it released and it ran away," she told the network.

Emergency workers arrived in minutes to rush the mother and son to a hospital, per CTV News, where Zachary received stitches for a 1.5-inch gash on his head. He's expected to fully recover.

The boy's father, Kevin Bromley, told the Calgary Sun that the boy also suffered injuries to his neck and arm but that the hooded sweatshirt may have protected him from further harm.

Investigators later found two juvenile cougars roughly 65 feet from the scene of the attack, Sgt. Scott Norris of the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service told the Sun.

Both cougars – perhaps brothers – were euthanized, CTV news reported. An examination suggested the animals were likely starving at the time of the attack.

Cougar attacks are very uncommon, Norris told the Sun, and it's possible the cats had lost their mother and were fending for themselves.

The British Columbia's Conservation Officer Service says that children often frighten when around cougars and make noise and movements that could provoke an attack.

The service advises adults to pick up children immediately if a cougar is nearby before slowly backing away.

"Make yourself look as large as possible and keep the cougar in front of you at all times. Never run or turn your back on a cougar," the service says in a guide.

If a cougar attacks, the service says, use anything as a weapon to attack the animal's face and eyes.

"You are trying to convince the cougar that you are a threat, and are not prey."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Woman fights off cougar attacking her son, prying its jaws open. 'Mom instinct,' she says