Boy Recovering After Mountain Lion Attack 2/6/12

CBS7 ^ | February 6, 2012 | Shannon Murray

[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.

[jazusamo]

Thanks for the photos. Excerpts from the article:

"We weren’t on a trail or down in the woods we were on a sidewalk between the restaurant and hotel,"

"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.

David Elkowitz with the Big Bend National Park tells CBS 7 this was actually the second attack of the day in the same area.

Can you say negligence on the part of the Park Service and whomever was at the lodge stating the attack wouldn't be reported?

[jazusamo]

You’re dead on the money, GladesGuru!

[GladesGuru]

Alas, I have had to deal with such jewels from the Department of the Inferior as Lil Debbie.

Google The Gift That Eats People. Lil Debbie is the rangerette who heads the cougar (called endangered Florida Panther in FloriDUH) restoration program. This twit in a taxpayer paid for uniform had the arrogance to sit in front of aa campground office where a cougar had indulged himself in the killing frenzy I had predicted would occur HAD occurred the evening before.

This intellectual Twinkie ( all fluff, no substance) brazenly looked into my camcorder and said “That cat can be an asset to this campground.”

For any who doubt that a uniformed Department of the Inferior employee could be capable of saying such a thing, Google it at EvergladesInstitute.org.

While there, look at the emails from the command persons at the agencies involved in the “Panther Program”. Those AgencyPersons were unaware that their emails were public property. I was too, until a kind soul sent them to me, with the best parts carefully underlined. Look at them - seeing is believing.

Then, I suggest calling and emailing your Senators and representatives about the flagrant disregard for public health and safety. Use those words, as that is the description of an illegal act.

And what these Armed & Rangerous are committing crimes with such behavior.

[jazusamo]

“That cat can be an asset to this campground.”

That's not surprising coming from Lil Debbie and those like her in government employment (Park Service, BLM, USFS, etc.) whose departments the eviro-nazis and animal rights activists have been infiltrating for 30 or more years.

Thanks for that link, I will check it out!

[rustbucket]

Here's a mountain lion paw print from the Laguna Meadow Trail a couple of miles from the Chisos Mountain Lodge. Canine/coyote/dog tracks would have toenail indentions. In a lion track like this one the nails are retracted leaving no mark in what once was the wet or damp soil/mud of the trail.

Yesh, the rangers should have warned people about the lion and started evacuating people.

[cornfedcowboy]

That has got to be photoshopped. No?

[St.Mark]

No its not Photoshopped just a large male lion

[St.Mark]

No its not Photoshopped just a large male lion