Police killed a cougar that attacked a five-year-old boy and dragged him through the garden in front of his home in Southern California, authorities reported Saturday.
The 30-kilogram (65-pound) mountain lion attacked the child Thursday as he was playing near his home in Calabasas and “dragged him about 45 yards” (meters) through the front garden, said Captain Patrick Foy , a spokesman for the California Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.
The boy suffered considerable trauma to his head and upper torso, but was in stable condition at a Los Angeles hospital, Foy added.
“The real heroine of this story is her mother because she definitely saved her son’s life,” Foy said. Mom was inside the house when she heard the noise outside.
“She ran out of the house and started punching and punching the cougar with her own hands and pulled him out of his son,” he commented.
The child’s parents immediately took him to the hospital, where police were notified of the attack and sent a wildlife agent to the scene.
Once in the house, the officer discovered a cougar crouching among the bushes with its “ears back and hissing,” Foy detailed.
“Because of his behavior and the proximity of the attack, the officer believed he was probably the aggressor cougar and to protect the public he shot him safely and killed him on the spot,” the life department explained. wild in a statement on Saturday ..
Subsequent DNA tests confirmed that the mountain lion was responsible for attacking the child, according to the statement.
Another cougar seen in the area was put to sleep and later released unharmed after being tested to make sure he was not involved in the attack.