Boy Recovers From Rare Cougar Attack

A 5-year-old boy is recovering after being attacked by a mountain lion over the weekend at Malibu Creek State Park.

The child was airlifted to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed to LAist. The mountain lion was considered a threat to public safety and was euthanized by California State Parks rangers.

But Patrick Foy, a captain with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s law enforcement division, told LAist that the attack was an extremely rare incident.

“To put it in context, when you compare the likelihood of being attacked by a domestic dog, it’s literally an order of magnitude or two greater than being attacked by any wild animal — bear, mountain lion or coyote,” he said.

What happened

The boy was attacked shortly after 4:15 p.m. Sunday in the Tapia Park public use area, near the intersection of Las Virgenes Road and Dorothy Drive in Calabasas.

A Woodland Hills family of six adults and several children was having a picnic. The children were playing around the table when the mountain lion attacked the boy, causing significant but non-life-threatening injuries, Foy said.

At least one of the adults charged the lion, including the father, who physically pushed the animal away from his son.

“This family did everything right,” Foy said.

The child was flown to Northridge Hospital Medical Center and released the next day.

Several people witnessed the attack and saw the puma climb into a nearby tree, where it remained until rangers arrived and euthanized it shortly after.

Wildlife officials collected evidence from the boy’s bites and scratches and sent it to a wildlife forensics lab in Sacramento. Those samples “conclusively” matched samples taken from the mountain lion.

“The fact that this lion came out of a densely covered area and attacked this young boy was horribly unfortunate and it was a traumatic experience, both physically and emotionally for the little boy and his family,” Foy said.

The National Park Service is asking people in areas where mountain lions live to follow these safety precautions:
- Don’t run or hike alone. Go in a group with adults supervising children.
- Keep children close. Do not let children play along river banks, in dense vegetation, or alone at dawn or dusk. When hiking with children, supervise them closely and never let them run ahead of you. Observations of captured pumas in the wild indicate that these animals seem particularly attracted to children.
If you encounter a lion, remember that the goal is to convince it that you are not prey and that you can be dangerous. Follow these safety tips:
- Do not approach a lion. Most pumas will try to avoid confrontation. Give them a way to escape.
- Don’t run from a lion. Running can stimulate a mountain lion’s chase instinct. Instead, stand and face the animal. Make eye contact. If you have small children with you, pick them up if possible so they don’t panic and run away. Although it may be awkward, pick them up without leaning or turning away from the mountain lion.
- Don’t crouch or bend over. A standing human is not the right shape for a lion’s prey. Conversely, a person crouching or bending over looks like four-legged prey. In areas where mountain lions live, avoid crouching, crouching, or bending over, even to lift children.
- Do whatever you can to make yourself look bigger. Raise your arms. Open your jacket if you are wearing one. Again, pick up small children. Throw rocks, branches, or anything you can reach without crouching or turning your back. Wave your arms slowly and speak firmly in a loud voice. The idea is to convince the mountain lion that you are not prey and that you could be a danger to him.
- Respond to an attack. A hiker in Southern California used a rock to fend off a mountain lion that was attacking his son. Others have successfully fought back with sticks, hats, jackets, gardening tools and bare hands. Since a mountain lion usually tries to bite the head or neck, try to stand and face the attacking animal.

The overview

It is rare for pumas to attack people, but one incident did occur earlier this year.

In March, two brothers were attacked A 90-pound male mountain lion was killed in a remote area of El Dorado County. The 21-year-old was killed at the scene, but his 18-year-old brother was able to call 911 and survived.

It is the first confirmed death from a mountain lion attack in California since 2004, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“The best way to tell if you’re in mountain lion habitat is to go to an area where there are a lot of deer,” Foy said. “Deer are a favorite prey of lions, and anywhere you see a lot of deer, chances are you’re in the presence of these animals, at least in mountain lion habitat.”

The latest incident in Calabasas also occurred around this time of year.

In August 2021, a 5-year-old boy was attacked by a young mountain lion near his home in the Santa Monica Mountains. The mountain lion was killed and the boy would have been recovered.

This is the first incident between a man and a lion in the region in more than 25 years, according to the Mountain Lion Foundation.

In the past five years, five attacks have been verified in Southern California, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. shopping listwhich was last updated in March.

You can learn more about what to do if you encounter a puma here.

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