Mountain lion snatches 5-year-old boy during Labor Day picnic as horrified parents watch on

A family’s Labor Day celebration turned tragic on Sunday Aug. 31 their 5-year-old son was attacked by a mountain lion in Malibu park outside of Los Angeles.

The attack happened at around 4:21 p.m. on Sunday in the Malibu Creek State Park about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The mountain lion attempted to drag the boy into the woods, prompting relatives to rescue him from the jaws of the wild animal according to police.

The child was left with serious, but non-life-threatening, injuries according to a statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The family of six adults and several children came down from their home in Woodland Hills, California to have a picnic in the park Sunday afternoon. The animal appeared suddenly out of the woods and snatched the boy from his family according to the statement.

Fewer than 50 mountain lion attacks on humans have been reported since 1890 according to officials, six of those being fatal attacks. ( Image: abc7)

“The children were playing in the immediate vicinity of the family’s picnic table when the mountain lion attacked the boy,” fish and wildlife officials said. “One or more adults charged the lion, and it released the boy.”

The name of the child is not being released but he suffered bite and scratch wound and was airlifted to Northridge Hospital Medical Center where he was treated for his injuries and released the same day.

“Multiple witnesses saw the attack and observed the mountain lion climb up a nearby tree,” according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

When Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies and state park rangers arrived, the mountain lion was still in the tree.

The CDFW “deemed the mountain lion a threat to public safety” and rangers euthanized the mountain lion by shooting it, according to officials.

Wildlife officials then went to the hospital to collect samples from the boy’s bite and scratch wounds to compare to the DNA of the euthanized animal as per standard CDFW protocol.

A mountain lion was euthanized after it attacked and injured a 5-year-old boy at Malibu Creek State Park over the weekend. ( Image: abc7)

“Those samples were confirmed a DNA match by the CDFW’s Wildlife Forensic Lab in Sacramento,” officials said.

This incident comes after California saw its first fatal mountain lion attack in 20 years back in March after a 21-year-old man was killed in Northern California’s El Dorado National Forest, about 52 miles northeast of Sacramento.

Fewer than 50 mountain lion attacks on humans have been reported since 1890 according to officials, six of those being fatal attacks.

This article by Anthony Orrico was first published by The Mirror on 3 September 2024. Lead Image: The attack happened at around 4:21 p.m. on Sunday in the Malibu Creek State Park about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. (Image: Getty Images).

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