Posted on 07/22/2025 3:57:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A four-year-old was enjoying a hike with family at a popular US national park when a mountain lion suddenly attacked and injured the child.
The family was near Victoria Overlook on Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park in Washington state on Sunday when the animal pounced.
National Park Service rangers responded around 3.15pm.
‘According to initial reports, a collared mountain lion bit a child walking with their family on a popular trail,’ stated the park service.
Park staff and paramedics with Clallam County Fire District 2 rushed to the scene and airlifted the child to a nearby trauma center. The child is being treated at a hospital in Seattle, and their condition was not immediately known.
Park officials said they would not be releasing more details on the victim for the time being to protect their privacy.
Right after the attack, rangers started looking for the big cat, with the canine team joining around 5pm that day. Rangers spotted the animal with a tracking collar shortly after the canines were sent out, but did not complete the operation.
Park staff found and ‘dispatched the animal’, meaning they killed it, on Monday and stated that there was no threat to the public.
Park officials found and killed the mountain lion that attacked the child (Picture: Getty Images) The incident is being investigated.
US Fish and Wildlife Service lists 10 things people can do to stay safe in mountain lion habitats. The agency advises anyone who encounters a cougar to make themselves appear large and throw stones or branches, and never run past one or crouch down because those are behaviors of prey.
‘Supervise children, especially outdoors between dusk and dawn,’ states the agency on its website.
‘Educate them about cougars and other wildlife they might encounter.’
Olympic National Park is one of the most popular national parks in the US (Credits: Getty Images) The attack happened five days after a small plane crashed in a remote area of the same park, killing one person and leaving the two others on board injured.
Olympic National Park ranked the tenth most visited national park in America in 2023, with 2.96million guests recorded, according to the outdoors company KÜHL.
‘Encompassing nearly a million acres, the park protects a vast wilderness, thousands of years of human history, and several distinctly different ecosystems, including glacier-capped mountains, old-growth temperate rain forests, and over 70 miles of wild coastline,’ states the park service.
Home of the 225lb mountain lions...up to 240.
They could carry a 4yr old for 30 miles, and park it in a tree.
I was just there last month, its a nice place.
I have heard that leopards can drag a full grown gazelle up into a tree.
I think that is one of the things I find amazing about cats-domestic cats are simply miniature models of the large wild cats in both structure and behavior.
If they weren’t so small, you would have to be wary they might decide to eat you.
Damn Republican lions!
Hurricane Ridge was the very first place I snow skied in 1974. No lions visible there in winter. My wife and I hiked there a few summers back. The Olympics are spectacular.
But but but I thought the greenie expert academics told us we couldn’t hunt cougars bears or wolves cuz they weren’t a threat to humans ?
That it was a myth that they were dangerous to humans
That they were more afraid of us than we were afraid of them .
Can we hunt and thin them buggers out again finally ?
Pt Angeles, Olympic mountains, hurricane ridge, stomping grounds of my youth .
Lake crescent, lake southerland, Elwah river , straits of Juan de fuca.
Prayers up for healing for that poor kid for sure.
“The child is being treated at a hospital in Seattle, and their condition...”
the child...their condition?
Did pronoun antecedent agreement go out the window?
Why not just write, “The condition of the child, who is beinging treated in a hospital, is unknown...” if there is insufficient backbone in the writer.
A traumatic event for the child but the pronoun insanity remains above all.
If you want to stay away from Lions, just go to where the next Super Bowl is.
We have been blessed with some genuinely good-natured and sociable house cats, but every now and them we have reflected on how little scaling up they would require in order to be downright scary to have around.
Park staff found and ‘dispatched the animal’, meaning they killed it, on Monday and stated that there was no threat to the public.
“Can we hunt and thin them buggers out again finally?”
This animal had a tracking collar on it. They had to know where it was and if it was near a populous spot in the park. Washington State Parks do warn visitors about the presence of mountain lions. They proactively track wildlife activity and issue warnings when there are confirmed sightings or potential safety concerns, such as aggressive behavior or close encounters. Visitors are also encouraged to report any sightings or encounters to park authorities. So where were they? And because they didn’t do their job a kid got hurt and a cat was destroyed. Nice job rangers.
wy69
Hmmm...
Seems too bad that the same cannot be said about murderous migrant invaders...
Bad kitty!
CC
“...on Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park...”
Even I have skied in the Olympics.
I scooped some ML poop off the driveway over the w/e.
A Republican Lion, of course that’s why they killed it.
Can’t train Mother in Law to use the indoor facilities?
The MLs seem to keep the Bobcats away.
YMMV.
Living at the intersection of rural Suburbia and what passes for the Wilderness in the lower 48 these days provides for interesting darkness excursions to let the dog take a leak at night.
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