Lily Kryzhanivskyy was “playing hide and seek in the woods near the camp” on Saturday morning, with two other children, when the puma suddenly attacked her, authorities told AFP in a statement.

“Transported by helicopter to the hospital with numerous injuries on her upper body and her face”, she underwent several operations and came out of a coma on Monday, “well aware of what happened to her”, according to her uncle Alex Mantsevich, who created an online fundraiser on crowdfunding site GoFundMe.

The little girl was in stable condition on Tuesday, police said.

Her uncle’s appeal for financial assistance, including for health costs, is accompanied by photos of the young girl on her hospital bed, her face studded with large wounds similar to severe scratches.

Since 1924, only 20 people have been attacked by mountain lions in this wild and mountainous state, and two people have died, notes the Washington State Conservation Agency.

One of its spokespersons told a local television station that they were carrying out an investigation to better understand the circumstances of the attack.

The animal, shot by a person present on the scene, did not have rabies, according to analyzes carried out on his remains.

Attacks by pumas, a powerful feline also known as a cougar and present in the Americas, are extremely rare, but authorities recommend that if they do occur, do everything to “stay up and fight back”, and Above all, do not try to flee or play dead.