A family walk in southern California turned into a nightmare when a mountain lion grabbed a three-year-old boy by the neck and started to drag him away. The boy’s father quickly threw his backpack at it. The animal dropped the boy, bit into the backpack and then climbed up into the limbs of a tree.
It happened at the Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in Orange County.
The boy received treatment at a hospital.
Wildlife officials euthanized the animal.
Hunting, a key tool used by wildlife managers across the country, is not allowed to help control California’s mountain lion population, estimated to be between 4,000 and 6,000. Voters passed a state initiative in 1990 outlawing the hunting of mountain lions.
(Photo source: Orange County Fire Authority)