A mountain lion bit an 11-year-old woman outdoors her dwelling in Malibu on Sunday after which proceeded to chase her mom and sibling earlier than it was killed by authorities, in accordance with state wildlife officers.
The woman was doing her chores close to a hen coop on the property within the 32500 block of Pacific Coast Freeway when the mountain lion pounced, in accordance with California Division of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Peter Tira.
It attacked her from behind, knocking her onto her abdomen and biting her proper arm, leg and decrease again, Tira stated. The woman’s mom was close by and heard her little one’s screams and ran over with one of many woman’s siblings.
“That’s when the mountain lion proceeded to chase the mom and the sibling,” Tira stated.
One of many members of the family had a stun gun and the sound of the weapon scared away the mountain lion, Tira stated.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies from the Malibu/Misplaced Hills station responded to the assault round 5:45 p.m. Deputies secured the scene till California Division of Fish and Wildlife officers arrived, in accordance with the Sheriff’s Division. Wildlife officers positioned and fatally shot the lion, which was hiding on the property.
Wildlife officers took clothes from the woman and can evaluate it with the mountain lion’s DNA to substantiate it was the identical massive cat that attacked her. The fabric is being processed at a forensics laboratory in Sacramento, Tira stated.
The Los Angeles County Fireplace Division additionally responded to the scene and took the woman to Los Robles Regional Medical Heart, the place she was handled for minor accidents, officers stated. The mountain lion was a younger grownup male, Tira stated.
Sunday’s assault is the twenty seventh reported mountain lion assault on a human since 1986, in accordance with the newest Fish and Wildlife information. Nearly all of the encounters had been nonfatal. The latest deadly assault was in March 2024 when a mountain lion killed a 21-year-old man in El Dorado County.
In September, one other younger grownup mountain lion attacked a 5-year-old boy in Malibu Creek State Park. The 53-pound feminine mountain lion was barely underweight and appeared to have been comparatively wholesome. State wildlife officers tracked and killed the lion as a result of it had attacked a baby and will presumably pose a security threat to the general public, officers stated on the time.
Final week, a mom in Carson additionally rescued her small little one from an animal assault — in that case, a coyote. The animal began biting and dragging a 6-year-old boy away at a neighborhood park; his mom intervened and scared the coyote away.