Wildlife officers are looking for a mountain lion that pounced on a seven-year-old boy, leading to the closure of a park, indefinitely, in Southern California on Monday.
The attack happened at Pico Canyon Park in Stevenson Ranch, on a sprawling 21-acres. At around sunset on Monday, the boy and his dad were walking up a flight of stairs at the park, when a mountain lion suddenly appeared. According to Patrick Foy, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife captain, the animal bit the little boy on his backside.
Captain Foy said that the boy’s father, who was walking right behind him, heard his son screaming, and he started going after the big cat, which let go of the boy and ran away. The park is in Foothills, about 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
The LA Times reported that paramedics took the boy to the hospital and, fortunately, his injuries were not severe or life-threatening. Foy said that although the incident traumatized the boy, he was fine.
Wildlife officials tested a bite sample to verify that it came from a mountain lion and to get the animal’s DNA profile.
The boy’s father said that he did not observe that the animal was wearing a tracking collar from the National Park Service. The park service, which studies and keeps track of big cats in Southern California, said that it was unaware of any of its collared mountain lions being in the area and that the Pico Canyon Park was outside its research zone.
Cougar attacks on humans are rare in the region. According to Foy, California has only recorded 20 confirmed attacks during more than a century that the California Fish and Wildlife Department has been keeping records. Of the twenty attacks, three have resulted in death of the victim.
The Fish and Wildlife officers and the US Department of Agriculture surveyed the area in search of the cougar and set up traps. The park closed on Tuesday evening and remained closed on Wednesday.
In 2021, a heroic mom tackled a mountain lion with nothing but her hands when it attacked her 5-year-old son at their Calabasas home. The 65-pound cougar dragged the five-year-old a distance, before his mother came rushing out of the house to rescue him. The boy had injuries on his head and chest, but he survived the attack. When wildlife officials removed the wild animal from the Calabasas house, they observed that it was aggressive and decided to shoot it to protect the public’s safety.
A few months ago, in June 2022, another mountain lion entered a high school in Northern California. A custodian spotted it and followed it until the animal entered an empty classroom. The worker acted quickly and locked it into the classroom. Luckily, the incident happened early in the morning before students arrived at the school, and no one was attacked or injured.