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Mountain lion attacks, injures 3-year-old boy at Lake Forest wilderness park

by in News

A mountain lion attacked and injured a 3-year-old boy at a wilderness park in Lake Forest on Monday, prompting evacuation of the popular hiking area, officials said. Authorities  shot the animal to death about an hour after the attack.

The boy suffered minor injuries in the incident at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park at about 4:20 p.m., Orange County sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun said. Deputies evacuated the park after the attack.

A family of six had been walking along a trail when a mountain lion came out of the wilderness and bit the 3-year-old boy’s neck, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Tony Bommarito said. The animal took hold of the child with its mouth and dragged it a short distance. The child’s father threw a backpack at the wild animal, which prompted it to let go.

The animal took the backpack instead and fled up a tree, Bommarito said. California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials gave Orange County sheriff’s deputies permission to euthanize the mountain lion, and it was shot and killed it at about 5:20 p.m., Braun said.

The park will remain closed as authorities work to ensure that the area is safe, Bommarito said. It was not immediately clear when it would be reopened to the public.

While cougar attacks are considered rare, a fatal such attack happened at the Lake Forest park in 2004. The park was closed after that incident, and later reopened after DNA belonging to off-road bicycle racer Mark Reynolds was found in the belly of the animal believed to have killed him. He was 35 at the time of his death, and a resident of Foothill Ranch.