Diana Bober, 55, was last seen on Aug. 29. Authorities believe they may have found the body of an avid hiker who went missing in Oregon, prompting a massive search and rescue operation in the Mount Hood area. Diana Bober, 55, was last seen on Aug. 29, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said. Searchers located the body of a woman at the bottom of a steep ravine about two miles up a hiking trail Monday afternoon, Portland ABC affiliate KATU reported. Officials have yet to identify the body, which was found down a 200-foot embankment on Hunchback Trail. Bober is an avid hiker known to frequent the area, and her family was worried that something might have happened to her, a Gresham police department spokesperson said. Her car was found in the Zigzag Ranger Station area, the sheriff's office said this weekend. She's not a survivalist or carrying a tent on her backpack or anything like that. Two hikers also found Bober's backpack on Aug. 30, reported Portland ABC affiliate KATU. Officials said Monday they spoke to the hikers who found her backpack and were able to narrow down the search area to about 2 square miles. "She's not a survivalist or carrying a tent on her backpack or anything like that," Bober's sister, Alison Bober, told KATU. As rescue crews search, Bober's family members have flown to Oregon from Virginia and Texas. She's petite and red haired and has all the liveliness that you would expect to go with that. She is full of life, interested in ideas, interested in people. We've stayed close even though we are so far away. "She's petite and red haired and has all the liveliness that you would expect to go with that," Alison Bober told KATU. “She is full of life, interested in ideas, interested in people. We've stayed close even though we are so far away." "It's helpful to be together. We just felt like we had to be here," Alison Bober added. Bober is described as having red hair and hazel eyes. She stands at about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds. Anyone with information is urged to call the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office at 503-655-8211.<doc-sep>A missing hiker whose body was found Monday in Oregon was likely killed by a cougar — the state’s first fatal attack by the big cat in the wild, authorities said. The body of Diana Bober, 55, of Gresham, was found off the Hunchback Trail in the Mt. Hood National Forest in Welches by search and rescue teams with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. Bober, an avid hiker who was last seen on Aug. 9, was reported missing on Friday, sheriff and wildlife officials announced Tuesday. “This is a terrible tragedy, and our sympathy goes out to Diana’s family and friends,” Brian Wolfer, watershed manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a statement. “All of us at ODFW are thinking of you today.” Bober’s body had injuries consistent with a suspected cougar attack, according to Sgt. Brian Jensen of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. DNA samples collected at the scene have been flown by Oregon State Police to the US Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory for further analysis and positive identification of the animal responsible for the fatal attack, Jensen said. Her death marks the first verified fatal attack by a wild cougar in Oregon. Wildlife officials are now working to locate and kill the cougar, one of roughly 6,600 cougars throughout the state. The animals, which are known to damage crops and kill livestock or pets, prompt about 400 complaints to wildlife officials each year, Jensen said. “This is an unprecedented event in Oregon, we are asking people to avoid this area while we attempt to remove this cougar,” Wolfer’s statement continued. “We don’t know what risk it poses to the public.” Anyone who sees a cougar in the area where Bober was found was advised to call authorities. Hikers were also advised to travel in groups, to make noise to alert animals to their presence and to be particularly alert at dawn and dusk, when cougars are especially active. Officials warned that anyone who encounters a cougar should not run. Maintain direct eye contact and back away slowly while raising your voice and speaking firmly. If the animal appears aggressive, wildlife officials suggest raising your arms to appear larger while clapping your hands. The last fatality caused by a cougar in Oregon took place in 2013, when an animal keeper at a large cat sanctuary near Sherwood was mauled while cleaning an enclosure, The Oregonian reports. More recently, a man was killed by a cougar while mountain biking in Washington state in May. Bober’s relatives, meanwhile, said she regularly hiked near Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. “She would go hiking several times a week,” Diana’s sister Alison Bober told the newspaper. “She was very independent and always felt very safe on the trails.” Diana Bober apparently tried to fight off the animal that attacked her, her sister said. “Although she died of her wounds, the wild animal didn’t come back to her,” Alison Bober told the newspaper. A memorial service for Diana Bober was not yet planned, but her sister suggested that people head outdoors to the “natural world” in her memory. “She would say you have to live your life without fear,” Alison Bober told the newspaper. “Nothing in life is truly safe. That’s what she would want, just for people to enjoy the important things in life such as a day of beauty.”<doc-sep>“It was determined she died of an apparent animal attack," Craig Roberts, Clackamas County sheriff, said at a press conference Tuesday. "We're waiting for final confirmation of what type of animal was responsible for this attack."<doc-sep>
The hiker who went missing on Mount Hood in late August and was found dead at the bottom of a ravine Monday was likely killed by a cougar, authorities said -- a shocking twist in the missing persons case. The body of Diana Bober, 55, was found Monday at the bottom of a 200-foot embankment on the famous Oregon mountain's Hunchback Trail, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday. Bober was last seen on Aug. 29 when she went for a hike on the trail. Her backpack was found by two hikers on the following day and her car was left in a parking lot at the base of the mountain. Craig Roberts, Clackamas County sheriff, made the surprising announcement at a press conference later in the day that Bober was likely killed by a wild cougar, also known as a mountain lion or puma. "She was discovered deceased on a hiking trail about two miles from the Zigzag ranger station on Sept. 10," Roberts said. "I extend my heartfelt condolences to the Bober family and friends for their loss. "I want to tell you Diana Bober's autopsy was today, it was determined she died of an apparent animal attack," he explained. "Her injuries are indicative of what experts say was probably a cougar. We're waiting for final confirmation of what type of animal was responsible for this attack." Bober said the fatal attack was the first on record by a cougar in the state. "Because this is an unprecedented event in Oregon we don’t believe that the threat to the public that’s posed by cougars is any greater today than it was yesterday," Brian Wolfer, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's watershed manager, said. "However, we don’t know and can’t quantify the threat that this particular animal may pose to the public." The Hunchback Trail has been closed to hikers as a precaution. Wolfer said about 6,600 cougars live in the state, and reports of them threatening livestock or pets are common, but human attacks are unheard of. Authorities continue to search for the animal. Male cougars can grow to be 120 to 200 pounds and generally hunt deer, elk, hares and wild birds, like turkeys. Bober is the second person in the Northwest to die in a cougar attack this year. A cougar killed a mountain biker in North Bend, Washington, in May, and mauled a second rider. Officials killed that mountain lion following the attack.