Eva the Belgian Malinois died Wednesday due to injuries sustained while saving her owner Erin Wilson from a mountain lion attack in California on May 16
The hero dog praised for saving her owner during a mountain lion attack in California has died nearly one month after her life-saving actions.
On Wednesday, Eva's owner, Erin Wilson, revealed that she is mourning the loss of her two-year-old Belgian Malinois Eva, who died due to the injuries she sustained protecting her owner.
"We love you, Eva," Wilson wrote, sharing the heartbreaking news on the GoFundMe account created to assist with Eva's medical expenses following the attack.
"We said goodbye at 9:20 this morning," she added on Instagram. "There were no changes to her condition overnight. Goodbye, my beautiful sweet girl. You are my world, my light, my best friend. The world is a much darker place."
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On May 16, Wilson and Eva were walking near Northern California's Trinity River when a mountain lion charged at Wilson, ripping through her jacket and scratching her shoulder, Wilson told The Sacramento Bee. She added that the mountain lion began growling at her.
"I yelled 'Eva!' and she came running," Wilson said of her 55-pound dog, who was walking ahead of her off-leash at the time of the attack. "And she hit that cat really hard."
"They fought for a couple seconds, and then I heard her start crying," Wilson told the outlet. "That's when the cat latched on to her skull."
Wilson was able to flag down a woman named Sharon Houston to help her get the mountain lion to release Eva. Together, Houston and Wilson attacked the mountain lion, who had pulled Eva away.
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Once the mountain lion finally loosened its grip and ran, Eva escaped to Wilson's pickup truck.
"At first, I was like, 'Wow, she's OK," Wilson told The Sacramento Bee. "But when I looked at her closer, I realized she had a couple of puncture wounds on her face. And she just had a lot of blood coming out of her mouth."
Wilson drove Eva to the closest emergency vet clinic, which was 90 minutes away. On the way, Eva experienced convulsions. According to Wilson, her pup suffered two fractures to her skull, a puncture in the sinus cavity, and severe swelling around her left eye. However, vets were "optimistic" because of Eva's young age and top shape.
"My dog is my hero, and I owe her my life," Wilson said following the attack.
Despite weeks of progress, Wilson announced on June 6 that Eva's condition had started to deteriorate due to the severity of her skull fracture. The dog died two days later.
Source: People