A five-year-old boy who was attacked by a mountain lion while hiking in rural northern California with his mother and grandfather has been released from a hospital, authorities said Wednesday.
The boy had raced ahead of the adults on a trail in San Mateo county, south of San Francisco, on Tuesday, when the big cat pounced on him and pinned him to the ground, said Capt Patrick Foy, a spokesperson with the California department of fish and wildlife.
“The little boy was pretty viciously attacked by a mountain lion that took him to the ground,” Foy said.
The attack was reported shortly before 7pm on Tunitas Creek Road in an unincorporated area of San Mateo county, the sheriff’s department said.
The area is south of Half Moon Bay.
County authorities said the boy had puncture wounds.
“He was pretty severely scratched. But whether he was bitten or not, I can’t confirm that at this time,” Foy said.
Foy said the boy had fought the mountain lion and tried to free himself, but the animal only let go after the child’s mother charged at it.
“Right before she even made physical contact with the lion, the lion released the little boy,” Foy said.
The child was released from Stanford medical center on Tuesday evening, he said.
“Our coastal community had endured so much these past few weeks. Our entire agency is saddened of this news and sends many warm wishes to the child for a speedy and full recovery,” the San Mateo county sheriff, Christina Corpus, said to the San Francisco Chronicle. “Our thoughts are with the family at this time.”
The California department of fish and wildlife was investigating the attack.
Foy said investigators had yet to get access to the property where the attack happened. He said they had collected the boy’s clothing and would check it for traces of saliva that could help them collect a DNA sample of the animal.
Mountain lion attacks on humans are rare. There have been 21 other known attacks, according to the California department of fish and wildlife. Only three have been fatal.
Last September, a seven-year-old boy was bitten by a mountain lion while walking with his father around dusk in a park near Santa Clarita in southern California. The father scared the animal away and the child was treated for relatively minor wounds.