An 11-year-old girl who suffered significant injuries in a mountain lion attack on the property of her Malibu home yesterday evening remains in the hospital, authorities told KTLA.
The young girl, at her house in the 32500 block of Pacific Coast Highway, was reportedly tending to the family’s chickens just before 6 p.m. when, according to officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, a young male adult cougar came out of the chicken coop and knocked her to the ground.
The girl’s mother and sister heard her screams and rushed outside, prompting the big cat to turn and charge them.
Fortunately, the girl’s sister was carrying a stun gun with a flashlight on it and when she fired it, the cougar was scared away.
The 11-year-old, who remains hospitalized, suffered serious injuries to her arm, leg and back, officials said.
After a search that lasted hours, the mountain lion was found hiding in bushes on the property. CDFW officers made the decision to euthanize the animal and noted that it was not tagged and did not have any recognizable markings, meaning it was not known to wildlife officials.
“For them to come onto the property and attack you, that’s a different story than what I encountered,” Cortney Rasura, who had her own face-to-face encounter with a cougar on a popular hiking trail in Ojai in July, told KTLA. “It just makes me sad that it happened.”
In her case, she yelled at the cougar, scaring it off, but says she now hikes with both bear spray and an airhorn.
According to CDFW, mountain lion attacks are rare, with only 28 verified incidents on humans since 1986. Most of those attacks were non-fatal.
Last year, a 5-year-old boy was attacked by a mountain lion at Malibu Creek State Park at around 4:30 p.m. while picnicking with family members at Tapia Park.
In early July, a woman hiking the popular Gridley Trail in Ojai found herself in a tense situation when one of the big cats emerged from the bushes and began walking toward her on the trail.
Several children were playing near the family’s picnic site, where at least six adults were present, when the mountain lion attacked the boy, grabbing him by the head and starting to run.
Crowds of people were able to scare the animal away before CDFW officers located the animal in a nearby tree and euthanized it.
As for Sunday’s terrifying ordeal in Malibu, officials are waiting DNA analysis to ensure the cougar euthanized with the involved animal.
The post Girl, 11, remains hospitalized after mountain lion attack at Malibu home appeared first on KTLA.
