Mountain lion attacks, injures 3-year-old boy in California wilderness park
A mountain lion lunged for a 3-year-old boy and grabbed him by the neck Monday in a California wilderness park, authorities said.
The incident happened at the Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in the rugged foothills of the Cleveland National Forest, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
A family of six was walking on a popular trail in Foothill Ranch when the animal attacked, said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Tony Bommarito.
"The mountain lion came out of somewhere and grabbed the 3-year-old by the neck and dragged him a short distance," said Bommarito. The boy's father threw his backpack at the cougar, which let go of the child, grabbed the pack and sprinted up a nearby tree.
The family ran out of the park and were met by paramedics who quickly treated the child and transported him to a nearby hospital.
"There was an attack on a child, but the child is OK," said Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Fred Thompson. "The mountain lion is no longer an issue."
The boy was in stable condition Monday night, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, citing a public safety threat, gave local law enforcement the approval to euthanize the mountain lion, according to the Orange County Fire Authority.
"I saw the family about 30 seconds after it happened," said Landon Wright, who was riding his mountain bike in the park. "They were obviously shaken up. The mom was holding the boy and they were all scurrying by as fast as they could. She stopped and said, 'Hey, there's a mountain lion in a tree just past here.'"
Moments later, Wright rounded a corner. "There it was, in a tree 15 to 20 feet up in the air, on a limb, just staring at me, with the pack in its mouth," he said.
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Whiting Ranch, a popular county wilderness recreation area that sprawls between housing tracts, has been the scene of other cougar attacks. Mark Reynolds, 35, was attacked and killed in 2004 when he stopped to fix a broken chain on his bike.
The next afternoon, another mountain biker, Anne Hjelle, 30, was attacked and seriously injured, likely by the same cougar. She was rescued by a riding companion and other bicyclists as the animal was dragging her by her head into the brush.
On Sunday, Wright said he biked past a bench in the park memorializing Reynolds. He said the possibility of being attacked "is always on your mind."
"But it's infrequent, and you can't just say, 'I'm going to stay indoors,' " Wright said. "It's just really unfortunate this cat decided to do this."
Janet Wilson covers the environment for The Desert Sun. Email her at janet.wilson@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Mountain lion attacks boy, 3, in California wilderness park
