Mountain Lion Attacks Boy, 6, On Hiking Trail

A six-year-old boy has been taken to hospital after being attacked by a mountain lion on a hiking trail in California.

The lion attacked the boy and dragged him away before his father and another man fought the animal off.

The boy was among a group of 10 - including his parents, another pair of parents and kids - hiking in the Picchetti Ranch Open Space Preserve near the Silicon Valley city of Cupertino.
Mountain Lion Sightings are common on the hiking trail but attacks are rare

"It's quite extraordinary the lion would attack a person with so many people in the immediate vicinity," Lieutenant Paul Foy of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.

The boy's father told investigators his son was about three metres (10ft) ahead of the group when a mountain lion "came out of nowhere"  on Sunday to assault the boy, Mr Foy said.

The boy's father and the other male adult in the group shouted and acted aggressively toward the mountain lion to scare it away.

"He's very, very lucky that the parents were so close," he said.

The boy suffered bite wounds and scratches his head and neck following the attack. He was reported to be in a fair condition at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

Authorities, with tracking dogs, are looking for the lion.
hospital The boy is reported to be in a fair condition

They have collected the boy’s torn shirt to compare DNA samples they would collect if they catch a lion. If it is a match, then the animal will be killed.

Mountain lion attacks on people are rare.

There have been 13 verified mountain lion attacks in California between 1986 and 2013, three of which resulted in deaths, according to the Fish and Wildfire department.