Hell hath no fury like an angry mom armed with a cleaning rag.

Or so it would seem, after a 30-year-old B.C. woman saved her young son from certain death at the claws and fangs of a hungry cougar, using nothing more than a dirty cloth and a mother's instinct.

"Looking back, it was the scariest thing I've ever been through in my life, but at the time I didn't feel anything," said Mary Metzler.

"At that moment I wasn't scared, I just knew something had to be done -- I didn't hesitate, I just went."

It was the morning of New Year's Eve when Mary heard a sound to chill the heart of any mom -- her children, screaming in fear and pain.

Mary had allowed the three youngsters outside to play, while she cleaned the Mennonite church in the village of Danskin, 250 km west of Prince George, B.C.

As the two older kids slid down the toboggan hill, and the youngest, two-year-old Joseph, toddled around the outdoor play area, Mary gathered her cleaning supplies, including a cloth about the size of a tea-towel.

While in the supply cupboard, Mary heard the screams that turned her from mild-mannered cleaning lady to cougar-fighting hero.

"It was a scream like I hadn't heard before," said Mary.

Looking out the window, she saw a horrifying sight: A huge animal had attacked seven-year-old David, her eldest child and was mauling him on the ground.

"I looked out a window and the cougar was on top of him -- it had his head in its mouth," she said.

The decision she made then almost certainly saved David's life. Had Mary hesitated or waited for help, it's almost certain her son would have died in the jaws of the wild cat.

In fact, there were two cougars stalking the three kids, and RCMP officers say the outcome would have been tragic if not for Mary and her cleaning rag.

Mary ran from the church, still not sure what was attacking her son, and not really caring -- she was going to save David, be it dog, cat or grizzly bear sinking its teeth into his head.

As she reached David, Mary saw the cat's tail and saw the animal's face -- she says it looked her straight in the eye and then she knew it was a cougar.

The cougar, on the other hand, only knew a frantic and furious human had suddenly appeared and whipped its face with something painful -- it was enough to make it leave its prey and flee.

Mary said she used the only weapon at hand, her cleaning rag -- she struck the cat over its face and muzzle, at which point it dropped her son and ran off.

"I can hardly imagine how I did it -- at the moment you don't stop to think what the result could be," said Mary.

The mom's next move was protecting her younger son and five-year-old daughter Doris, but the kids were safe.

It was the second time in a week where B.C. children have escaped the attack of a hungry cougar.

On Saturday, 11-year-old Austin Forman was rescued by his golden retriever, when it fought off a cougar outside his home in Boston Bar, in southern B.C.

For Mary's family, it could have been even worse -- tracks in the snow showed a second cougar may have been stalking the girl when Mary scared the cats off.

They were later tracked with hunting dogs and shot by conservation officers. They were found to be both females, weighing 30 and 36 kg.

David, sporting 22 stitches in his head and wounds to his eye and back, has returned to school as something of a celebrity, though his mom says he's not really keen to talk about the ordeal.

"His friends are kind of in awe," laughed Mary.

Having surprised herself as a woman capable of fighting off wild cats to save her kids, Mary says she won't surprise her kids with strict new rules about playing outside.

"I don't intend to live in fear for the rest of our lives," said Mary.

"Though I have to admit, at this point I'm not really pushing them to play outside."

MICHAEL.PLATT@SUNMEDIA.CA