Mountain lion victim heads to San Francisco for more surgery

SAN FRANCISCO — A Northern California hiker attacked by a mountain lion last week was airlifted to a San Francisco hospital Sunday, where he will likely undergo more surgery.

A spokesman for Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata said doctors wanted to send Jim Hamm to a major research hospital in San Francisco after they performed emergency surgery on his scalp and downgraded his condition from fair to serious.

Dense fog along the Northern California coast prevented the medical plane's liftoff all morning, but Hamm was delivered to California Pacific Medical Center Sunday evening after the fog broke, the hospital confirmed.

Ayotte emphasized that mov ing Hamm to a hospital with more doctors and sophisticated equipment was a "proactive, highly precautionary" measure.

The 70-year-old Fortuna man first underwent surgery Wednesday after a female mountain lion ambushed him at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. He and his wife, Nell, were hiking in the park when the lion pounced on him, scalped him, mauled his face, ripped off part of his lips and inflicted other puncture wounds and scratches.

Hamm is taking antibiotics to prevent an infection, but his doctors remained concerned about bacteria entering his body from the cat's claws and mouth.

"Infection -- that's our biggest concern," Ayotte said. "You can have exactly the same injuries in a traffic accident or in a wild animal attack, but your chances of infection with a wild animal accident are far greater."

Although the Hamms are experienced hikers, neither had seen a mountain lion before Jim Hamm was mauled while walking on a trail amid old-growth Coast Redwoods in Humboldt County. Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park abounds with Roosevelt elk, deer, coyote, foxes and bobcats, but it's rare to see resident black bears and mountain lions.

Tawny-colored mountain lions -- also called cougars and pumas -- roam the widest range of any New World land animal, from northern Canada to the southern Andes. Adults can weigh up to 200 pounds. The stealthy, swift creatures usually eat deer but have been known to attack pet dogs, livestock and, on rare occasions, even children and adult humans.

Upon noticing that the lion had her husband's head in its mouth, Nell Hamm, 65, grabbed a four-inch-wide log and beat the animal repeatedly -- to no avail. She then removed a pen from her husband's pocket and tried to poke it into the cat's eyeball -- but the pen simply bent and became useless.

She went back to using the log. The lion eventually let go and, with blood on its snout, stood staring at the woman. She screamed and waved the log until the animal walked away.

Nell Hamm refused to abandon her husband on the trail but knew he needed immediate rescue. She managed to encourage him to walk with her a quarter-mile to a trail head, where she gathered branches to protect them if more lions came around. They waited until a ranger came by and summoned help.

After the attack, game wardens closed the park, about 320 miles north of San Francisco, and released hounds to track the lion. They shot and killed a pair of lions found near the trail where the attack happened.

The carcasses of the lions -- believed to be siblings -- were flown to a state forensics lab, where researchers identified the female lion as the attacker. She did not have rabies.

Wild animal experts have praised Nell Hamm as a hero who saved her husband's life -- both by standing up to the lion and encouraging her bloodied husband to walk a quarter-mile to safety.

The couple -- who are to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next month -- had been virtually inseparable in the days following the attack. But on Saturday doctors in Arcata urged her to go home and rest. She was expected to fly to San Francisco on Sunday afternoon -- not on the medical plane but on a private one closely following her husband's.

"Nell -- God bless her. I don't think I've ever met a woman quite like her. You can just tell the love they've had over the past 50 years," Ayotte said. "I get goose bumps when I think of what she did."