Speaker 1: (00:01)
You got to understand when you’re walking these trails, the dangers that you’re walking into.
Speaker 2: (00:07)
Francisco Salas walks the trails above Pico Canyon Park in Stevenson Ranch every morning, after dropping his son off at school across the street, but he won’t be doing it tomorrow. The park is now closed after a seven-year-old was attacked by a mountain lion there on Monday.
Speaker 3: (00:22)
The young boy, about seven-year-old boy, was walking up some stairs and was attacked from behind by a mountain lion and bitten in the buttocks.
Speaker 2: (00:32)
That child will be okay. His bite wounds were swabbed for DNA to try and match it to a known cat. In the meantime, authorities are now searching for it. AIR7HD was overhead as they attempted to lower the mountain lion out of the hills while the park is still closed.
Speaker 3: (00:47)
And in the trap we place a mountain lion’s favorite food, which is a deer carcass.
Speaker 2: (00:51)
If it is found and the DNA matches up, there is a good chance one of these Southern California treasures will have to be killed.
Speaker 3: (00:58)
Everything we do, and every part of our mission, is to better help wildlife and people coexist. And having a situation like this where wild animals start attacking, especially small children, that’s a super difficult part of our job.
Speaker 2: (01:14)
Residents in the Stevenson Ranch area have reported seeing a cougar in recent weeks and worried about their pets, but few thought it would ever go after a human.
Speaker 4: (01:21)
That’s really bad because I have always seen a lot of kids and even the youngsters who go walk and all that.
Speaker 2: (01:29)
Are you going to do anything different now or are you going to stay away.
Speaker 5: (01:31)
Yeah, I’m not going to walk there. I’ll stay out on the street.
Speaker 1: (01:34)
It still terrifies me because it could happen to me, it could happen to anybody out here.