California wildlife officials have called off the search for a mountain lion that attacked a 5-year-old boy who was hiking in rural northern California, saying there was little chance of capturing the animal.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday that DNA testing confirmed a mountain lion was responsible for last Tuesday’s attack in San Mateo County, south of San Francisco.
But efforts to track and capture the lion have been hampered because investigators have been denied access to private property near the site of the attack.
“Lack of access, combined with deteriorating weather and the nomadic nature of mountain lions, reduced the chances of a successful capture,” said department spokesman Captain Patrick Foy.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Officials and family members said the boy was on a trail along Tunitas Creek Road on Tuesday and was walking past his mother and grandparents when the big cat pounced on him and pinned him to the ground.
His mother Suzy Trexler accused Cougar and it let the boy go and run away.
The boy was not bitten, Foy said. However, his face was scratched and a bone near his eye was broken, his aunt, Amy Wagner, told the Chronicle.
He was treated at a local hospital.
Mountain lion attacks on humans are rare. According to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, there have been about 20 confirmed attacks in California in more than a century, and only three have been fatal.
Last September, a 7-year-old boy was mauled by a mountain lion while taking an evening walk with his father in a park near Santa Clarita in Southern California. The father scared the animal off and the child was treated for relatively minor wounds.
The last incident before Tuesday was in September when a cougar attacked a 7-year-old boy at Pico Canyon Park in Los Angeles County. That child also survived.