Mountain lion (Puma concolor)
Sunday afternoon, a six-year-old boy was attacked by a mountain lion. The boy and his family were hiking a popular trail in nearby Picchetti Open Space Preserve in Cupertino, California.
The boy, whose name is not public, was hiking about 10 feet in front of his father when the lion “came out of nowhere.” The child suffered lacerations to the arm and neck, but is now recovering at home after being treated at a hospital.
I hope you will join me in sending your thoughts and sympathies to the boy who was attacked, and to his family. I hope he has a quick and complete recovery.
What Happened
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department reports that the boy was among a group of 10 people. The group included his parents and other parents and children. They were on an afternoon hike when the attack occurred, around 1:15 PM.
Lt. Patrick Foy, of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the lion attacked in the same way it would a herd of deer. It targeted the easiest prey, usually the smallest, and looked for an opportunity when it was separated from the group. The lion dragged the boy into the brush. But his father and another adult male shouted and chased the animal to scare it away. Tracks found near the scene suggest that the animal followed the group as it rushed the injured boy back to the parking lot.
What Happens Next
When a cat attacks a person, it needs to be removed for public safety. Authorities will use dogs to help track and tree the animal. Once this is done, they will tranquilize the lion and try to identify it as the assailant. Authorities will compare DNA from the lion’s saliva to saliva found on the boy’s shirt. Once they have a match, authorities intend to kill the lion and test it for rabies.
Update: Lion Caught Wednesday
The mountain lion was tracked and killed just 130 yards from where it attacked the child. Authorities believe it stayed in the area because of the abundant deer population.
Dogs chased it into a tree where the cat displayed unusually aggressive behavior. Lt. Foy stated that it was crouching and fixating on a wildlife officer. They did not want to kill the animal without confirming it was the one who attacked the boy. But the animal’s extreme aggression left them little choice.
DNA tests later confirmed that the mountain lion was the same one that attacked the child. Researchers tested the dead lion’s DNA against a sample of saliva recovered from the child’s shirt. The sample matched all 14 DNA markers they inspected.
The lion was healthy, weighed 74 pounds, and was about two years old. Lt. Foy added, “Everything about (the attack) was so vastly beyond our scope, beyond any statistical reason why lions do what they do, that there is no way to explain why he attacked.”
Mountain Lion Safety
I often hike solo at Picchetti, where the attack occurred. And perhaps I have grown a little complacent with respect to mountain lions. But an attack like this one is unusual. In truth, any mountain lion attack on a person in California is unusual.
Most attacks occur when old, ill, or inexperienced lions mistake humans for prey. The old or ill lions are no longer capable of successfully hunting deer, their normal food. The young lions may be also be struggling to hunt. In the area of Sunday’s attack, authorities found the tracks of a juvenile lion.
Here are my tips for staying safe in mountain lion country:
My tips for staying safe in mountain lion country
A Realistic Risk Assessment
About 4,000 to 6,000 mountain lions live in California and attacks on humans are rare. There have been 13 attacks in California in the last 27 years. This is small considering the number of hikers, mountain bikers, backpackers, campers, and fishermen in the outdoors every day.
If you do a risk assessment, mountain lion attacks should be low on your list. Falls, hypothermia and getting lost pose much larger risks to the hiker than does an animal attack. Domestic dogs and bees account for more human deaths.
So do pay attention. Do take precautions. But don’t let mountain lions dampen your enthusiasm for the outdoors. In all my years of hiking, backpacking, and camping, I have never had the pleasure of seeing a mountain lion in the wild. But I am certain that they have seen me.
And I’m still here.
Further Reading
Lion Sense: Traveling and Living Safely in Mountain Lion Country, Steven Torres (second edition)
More Mountain Lions on NatureOutside
If you Meet a Mountain Lion – Safety Tips for Hikers
Mountain Lion Tracks – Learn to Read Them
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