On Sunday, July 20, a four-year-old child was injured by a mountain lion near the Victoria Overlook area on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park, Washington. Park staff located and dispatched the animal on July 21. There are no current threats to the public.
Rangers were notified of the attack at around 3:15 p.m. on Sunday. According to initial reports, a collared mountain lion bit a child while they were walking with their family on a popular trail.
Clallam 2 Fire-Rescue (Clallam County Fire District 2) paramedics and park staff responded to the incident and transferred the victim via LifeFlight to a Level 1 Trauma Center. The patient is undergoing treatment for their injuries in a Seattle hospital. To protect their privacy, identifying details will not be released at this time.
Rangers began searching for the cougar immediately following the incident. A canine team joined the search at approximately 5 p.m. the same day. Rangers located the cougar shortly after the canine team joined the effort, but did not complete the dispatch operation until the following morning.
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This incident is under investigation. No additional information or photos are available at this time. Witnesses to the event should call 888-653-0009 or email nps_isb@nps.gov.
Though a tragic incident, these types of mountain lion attacks are extremely rare. Statistically speaking, a person is 1,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion. Since 1868, there have been just 29 reported fatalities as a result of mountain lion attacks. In most cases, the person was alone when the attack occurred. The CDFW Human-Wildlife Conflicts Program and the Mountain Lion Conservation Program collaborate to develop strategies that mitigate the risk of mountain lions on the landscape, utilizing diverse tools and the best available science.
Here are 10 things you can do to stay safe in mountain lion habitat:
1. When it comes to personal safety, always be aware of your surroundings, wherever you are; conduct yourself and attend to children and dependents accordingly.
2. If you encounter a cougar, make yourself appear larger, more aggressive. Open your jacket, raise your arms, and throw stones, branches, etc., without turning away. Wave raised arms slowly, and speak slowly, firmly, loudly to disrupt and discourage predatory behavior
3. Never run past or from a cougar. This may trigger their instinct to chase. Make eye contact. Stand your ground. Pick up small children without, if possible, turning away or bending over.
4. Never bend over or crouch down. Doing so causes humans to resemble four-legged prey animals. Crouching down or bending over also makes the neck and back of the head vulnerable.
5. Try to remain standing to protect head and neck and, if attacked, fight back with whatever is at hand (without turning your back)—people have used rocks, jackets, garden tools, tree branches, and even bare hands to turn away cougars.
6. Don’t approach a cougar. Most cougars want to avoid humans. Give a cougar the time and space to steer clear of you.
7. Supervise children, especially outdoors between dusk and dawn. Educate them about cougars and other wildlife they might encounter.
8. Always hike, backpack, and camp in wild areas with a companion.
9. Don’t feed wildlife. Don’t leave food outside. Both may attract cougars by attracting their natural prey.
10. Keep pets secure. Roaming pets are easy prey for cougars.
Mountain Lion Facts
- Height: 1.8 to 2.4 feet
- Length: Males 3 to 6.5 feet, Females 3 to 5.5 feet
- Weight: Males 125-220 pounds, Females 75-140 pounds
- Habitat: Usually remote 25 to 100+ square miles “home range” in areas of forest, swamp, grassland, desert, and scrubs with caves, or groups of rocks.
- Diet: Squirrels, beavers, raccoons, coyotes, rabbits, birds, opossums, cattle, deer, pig, porcupine, elk, or moose.
- Mountain Lions can live in the wild for 20 years.
- Can leap up to 40 horizontally and 20 feet vertically.
- The mountain lion has a tan-colored coat, similar to that of the African lion. The most recognizable feature of the cougar is its long and heavy tail, which measures almost two-thirds the length of the head and body.
- Females usually breed at 2.5 years and commonly have 2 or 3 kittens (or cubs).
- Newborn kittens weigh about one pound, measure about a foot in length, and have dark spots on their coats. Within 8 to 12 months, these spots will fade. The kittens are weaned at 2 months and are soon accompanying their mother around the home area. The mother raises her young alone and trains them how to hunt. The kittens stay with her from 18 to 24 months, and then disperse to find their own home areas.
