Washington state girl, 11, shoots cougar that stalked her brother

11-year-old Shelby White fired a rifle at an emaciated female cougar estimated to weight a paltry 50 pounds. The animal appeared to be following her 14-year-old brother, Tanner, into their home before she shot the life-saving bullet. It was the third such death of a cougar on the Whites' property in two weeks. Locals speculate the animals are starving and looking closer to humans for food.

By Lee Moran / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, February 27, 2014, 9:19 AM

A quick-thinking Washington state girl bravely grabbed a gun to shoot dead a cougar that was stalking her older brother.

Shelby White, 11, said she acted instinctively after spotting the skinny predator following Tanner, 14, as he walked back to their rural home in Twisp last Thursday.

The fearless hunter snatched her rifle, took aim at the deadly beast which was just 10 feet away, and gunned it down — saving her sibling's life.

Methow Valley News reports that the female cougar, which was "severely emaciated," tried to get into the family's Lookout Mountain ranch's cow pen at 2:30 a.m. that morning.

Shelby's dad Thomas White was alerted to the intruder after his pet dog started barking and managed to scare it away.

It returned again two hours later and White again managed to scare it off.

The big cat tried to make its third time the charm at 3:30 p.m. when she chanced her luck as White's three children returned home from school.
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