Two days after a 5-year-old child was attacked by a mountain lion during a Woodland Hills family group picnic in Malibu Creek State Park, the city of Calabasas, as well as environmental groups, were shaken up by the unprovoked mauling.
The families — about six adults and several children — were picnicking in the Tapia Park Day Use Area where there are picnic tables and barbecue grills on Sunday, Sept. 1, when at 4:20 p.m. a mountain lion grabbed the child and began to run with the boy in its mouth.
The child’s father ran at the cougar, causing it to release the child. The animal charged up a nearby tree. After consulting with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who deemed it a public safety threat, a state park ranger shot and killed the animal.
On Tuesday, the CDFW matched DNA from the bite marks on the boy with tissue from the cougar carcass, proving it was the animal that attacked the boy.
The boy sustained “significant but non-life-threatening injuries,” the CDFW reported on Tuesday in a statement. He was airlifted to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, was treated for his injuries and released in the early morning hours on Monday, Sept. 2, the agency reported.
A necropsy was being performed on the dead puma on Tuesday. This procedure will help CDFW determine the cougar’s sex, age, health and whether or not it carried rabies, said Steve Gonzalez, a CDFW spokesperson on Tuesday, Sept. 3.
The results will be known on Wednesday or Thursday, he said.
“My main concern is the safety of our residents. Children and families should be at parks and not have this fear,” said Alicia Weintraub, mayor of Calabasas. She said the state park is in unincorporated LA County, but very near the city boundaries.
The city has many parks in and around the Santa Monica Mountains. It regularly educates its population of the presence of wild animals in and around the city, including bears and mountain lions. Both have been spotted in people’s backyards fairly…
Read the full article here
