Mountain lion attacks boy, 7, at Southern California park
BY PGF
2 years, 2 months ago
Wildlife officers on Wednesday were tracking a mountain lion that attacked a 7-year-old boy and prompted the closure of a sprawling Southern California park, authorities said.
The child and his father were walking up stairs at Pico Canyon Park near Santa Clarita around dusk on Monday when a cougar emerged from brush and bit the boy on the buttocks, said Capt. Patrick Foy with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
That’s a classic ambush. Walking up steps takes attention and wind; fleeing is also difficult. Smart kitty. The attack occurred at dusk; cats are crepuscular. Though they may hunt at other times they hunt at dawn and dusk almost daily.
Foy said the father, who was walking behind, heard his son cry out and charged toward the big cat. “The lion let go and retreated back into the brush,” he said.
The boy was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Foy said.
“It was a pretty traumatic episode for him, but he’s expected to be fine,” he said.
Wildlife officials sampled the bite wound to confirm that a mountain lion was responsible and to obtain a DNA profile of the animal.
The father said the cougar didn’t appear to be wearing a GPS collar from the National Park Service, which tracks and studies big cats in Southern California. The park service said it doesn’t have a collared mountain lion in the area and the park is outside its research zone, according to Foy.
You knew it was coming: “rare.”
Mountain lion attacks on humans are rare. Around 20 confirmed attacks have occurred in California in 110 years of record-keeping, he said.
That number of 20 is a bald-faced lie. That’s the “official” “confirmed” by the “Fish and Wildlife authorities” number, is my guess. Note how it wasn’t ‘confirmed’ to be a lion until the saliva sample was analyzed, as though a 7-year-old and his father don’t know what a cat looks like.
Fish and Wildlife officers surveyed the area and set up baited boxes to try and trap the mountain lion at the park in foothills about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The park remained closed Wednesday.
Baited boxes? Wait, weren’t they “tracking” the mountain lion? They have no fool idea where the cat is, and neither does AP, the source of the story, know what words mean.
I still want to see one in the wild.
H/T Instapundit
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On September 28, 2022 at 9:00 pm, bryce said:
I saw one from a distance (300ish yards) at my uncle’s place in rural Central Texas.
Saw something dark moving at the edge of a hay field. Thought it was a feral hog until it jumped on top of a round bale (5-6 feet high) and sit down watching the field. Twernt no hog making that leap
On September 29, 2022 at 12:05 pm, Mike said:
In the 50 some years I have stomped the woods of Northern Idaho, I have never seen a cougar. On the other hand, rarely have I been in the woods and NOT heard a cougar scream, so they are around.
If you have never heard a nice kitty scream in the middle of the night, I will never be able to describe to you how immediately and intensely awake you get…..for the rest of the night…..
On September 30, 2022 at 9:50 am, Trout Stalker said:
As a lad living in Sacramento, i and my friend used go to the Bear River in the Sierra foothills and fish for trout.
That region is full of mountain lions, and haas a history of attacks, so we were always aware.
One time, i was wading in the river, small gorge and felt a presence around me, and i looked up to scan the gorge, and sure enough, on a rock outcropping was a large cat, eye balling me, maybe 15′ up, its tail making the whipping side to side motion cats make before they pounce..
I slowly mad emy way further into the water, under a ledge where the cat could not get me, unless it was a master swimmer..
I waited 10min or so, and peeked out to check, and it was gone..
I tell ya what, it was an eerie feeling to be hunted like that…
We think we are the masters of the food chain, until nature has its say…