Child attacked by mountain lion in Northern California, taken to trauma center

Mountain Lion sightings have the San Mateo area on edge

A child was taken to a trauma center Tuesday after being attacked by a mountain lion in rural Northern California, authorities said. The attack was reported just before 7 p.m. on Tunitas Creek Road in an unincorporated area of ​​San Mateo County, said the sheriff’s department.

@SMCSheriff was dispatched to a report of a mountain lion attack and we can confirm that a child was transported to a local trauma center following the attack. The incident happened in the 1000 blk of Tunitas Creek Rd. in unincorporated SMC. @CaliforniaDFW actively investigating the incident

— San Mateo County SO (@SMCSheriff) 1 February 2023

The area is located south of Half Moon Bay.

The victim was conscious while being transported to the hospital, but there was no immediate information on the child’s condition. Other details were not immediately released.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife investigated the attack.

Mountain lion attacks on humans are rare. About 20 confirmed attacks have occurred in California in more than a century of record keeping, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Last September, a 7-year-old boy was bitten by a mountain lion while walking with his father around dusk in a park near Santa Clarita in Southern California. The father scared the animal away and the child was treated for relatively minor wounds.

Over the past year, mountain lion sightings have been on the rise across the Bay Area, CBS San Francisco reported.

A mountain lion cub wandered into an empty classroom at Pescadero High School along the peninsula in June. After several hours, the Department of Fish and Game was able to do it remove the child safely from the classroom.

Mountain lions have also been caught lurking in the shadows of security cameras in Millbrae, the station reported. Some Oakland Hills and Piedmont residents say they’ve seen mutilated deer carcasses in their neighborhoods. One cougar was caught in a tree in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood and transported to the Oakland Zoo while another broke into a San Bruno home.

Cougar studied by biologists found dead on LA-area freeway

Meanwhile, a Southern California mountain lion studied by the National Park Service was killed after a suspected car attack earlier this month on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, officials said.

The radio-collared cougar known as P-81 was found dead along the route near Point Mugu on January 22, the park service said on Twitter.

An autopsy will confirm that the 4-year-old died as a result of being hit by a car.

The park service says at least 34 mountain lions have been killed by vehicles since 2002 within the study area, which includes the Santa Monica Mountains, Simi Hills and Verdugo Mountains.

Biologists are studying how the big cats live in habitats fragmented by urban sprawl, barriers that limit genetic diversity and with dangers ranging from toxins to roads and highways.

P-81’s death comes more than a month after famed cougar P-22, who lived for years in a sprawling Los Angeles park, was euthanized after investigations revealed deterioration of health and injuries probably caused by a car.