• California officials: Man's claim bear saved him from lion attack not substantiated

    By msnbc.com staff

    California wildlife officials are casting doubt on a man’s claim that he was saved from a mountain lion attack when a bear pulled the big cat off him, according to a local newspaper.


    Robert Biggs, 69, of the northern California town of Paradise, says a mountain lion jumped on his back and knocked him over on Monday while he was walking on trails, a story that's been reported by many media outlets.

    “I had a rock in my right hand, and I come around and swing and hit him in the side of the head, and it made a big screeching sound. And I come back to swing again, and I come around, and just about half way there, I see this dark figure grabbing the neck of the mountain lion and tearing it down [to] the ground behind me,” Biggs told Fox40.com, noting the dark figure was a “mama bear.”

    But Department of Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Foy told the Paradise Post: "We did interview Mr. Biggs and we are unable to substantiate a lion attack."

    Harry Morse, another department spokesman, said they had no plans to pursue the alleged mountain lion and that a warden determined Biggs’ injury was not consistent with such an attack, the Paradise Post reported. But officials will test DNA from blood found on a backpack to see if it did belong to a mountain lion, Foy said.

    Biggs got a few scratches in the alleged encounter.

    “I’m sure the bear was trying to save me because the way it was looking at me just two minutes before I was standing there watching her, and she was looking at me like we were old friends,” he told Fox40.com.

    Foy said it was not likely a bear would be so friendly with a man. There have only been 16 verified mountain lion attacks from 1890 to 2007, none of which were in Butte County, in which Paradise is located.

    More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

    Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook