Posted on 02/07/2012 3:20:34 PM PST by jazusamo
Big Bend National Park - What started as a family vacation quickly took a turn for the worst after a six-year-old boy is attacked by a mountain lion in Big Bend National Park.
"We weren’t on a trail or down in the woods we were on a sidewalk between the restaurant and hotel," explains Rivers Hobbs’ father, Jason.
The Hobbs family drove in from Austin, hoping to enjoy the outdoors in Big Bend National Park. But their vacation was cut short.
"It snuck up on me," claims 6-year-old Rivers.
“It” was a mountain lion, sneaking up on Rivers just feet from the Chisos Mountain Lodge where they were staying.
"It had a hold of his face...the cat was clamped on his face. I reached down and got my knife out and stabbed the cat in the chest and it let go at that point," Jason says.
The family immediately took action but they claims the lodge did just the opposite
"I heard them say right in front of me that they were not going to tell the other people at the lodge that there was an attack and the lion is still at large," says Rivers’ mom, Kristi Harris.
Despite the gruesome stitches from his surgery, Rivers claims he didn't cry once.
"Did it hurt?" we asked him. "No… not that bad,” he replies.
"Were lucky he’s walking away with scars and it didn't get him by the neck," Jason says.
David Elkowitz with the Big Bend National Park tells CBS 7 this was actually the second attack of the day in the same area.
Elkowitz said the mountain lion tried to attack another family but was fended off by a backpack.
Both families say the mountain lion looked "small, young and in bad shape."
Park rangers began evacuating trails and campsites early today.
Closed areas include the Chisos Basin, Window Trail, The Pinnacles, Boulder Meadow and Juniper Flats.
Cougar attack Ping!
Thanks for the ping jazusamo. Poor kid. Hope that guy doesn’t get in trouble for stabbing wildlife in a National Park.
Certainly not a "victim" mentality.
Shame on the owners and all involved for not taking action after the 1st attack.
I was going to ask "what ever happened to hospitality"?, but then I thought "WTH is happening to my country". Kinda answered my own question.
how do you post a picture?? this dummy would like to know
The child is lucky to be alive, for sure. (It’s a shame his parents gave him such a name, though.)
Easiest way is to go to tinypic.com and upload a picture from your computer, then cut and paste the link into your FR post. It’s free and you don’t have to sign up for anything.
thanks for the info. this mountain lion was taken 300 yards from my home and I had never seen him before. he killed a few pets and attacked a jogger. [IMG]http://i43.tinypic.com/24od9is.jpg[/IMG]
I'm so prepared, in fact, I actually feel sorry for the mountain lion that tries to attack me. Lol!
Thanks for the ping, Jaz!
In that bar is the picture of a Cougar hanging upside down after being shot by a deer hunter...the cat was going to steal his game.
The cat was over 8ft from nose to tip of tail and weighed 248lbs.
It's not one of those "here kitty kitty" kinda cats. His head was the size of a watermelon.
Holy. Cow.
As Inyo-Mono pointed out open a free account, either tinypic.com or photobucket.com. When you upload a pic they convert it to HTML, copy that and post it with your article or reply.
Thanks, I-M.
He looks to be over 300lbs.
The United Nations Agenda 21 is working as planned
That’s a big cat. Yowza!
LOL! I’ll feel sorry for the mountain lion too as long as you hear him. :-)
It wasn’t me that took him but a local hunter working for the county. I was just able to get the picture. He was HUGE up close.
The basic tag is < IMG SRC=” wherever_the_image_is_hosted.com/name_of_image “>
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2073420/posts
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
