For the first time in 20 years, a mountain lion has killed a human in California. The victim’s brother was injured.
Knewz.com has learned the attack occurred Saturday, March 23 near the town of Georgetown, 70 miles northeast of Sacramento.
Authorities in El Dorado County reported two brothers were searching for deer antler sheds when the mountain lion struck. An 18-year-old called 911 for help.
“The reporting party suffered traumatic injuries to his face and was separated from his brother during the attack,” a Facebook post by the county sheriff’s office said.
The older brother initially was reported on the ground, “and the lion had a hold of its neck,” law enforcement radio transmissions said.
Deputies raced to a remote area and searched for about 12 minutes. Then they “observed a crouched mountain lion next to a subject on the ground,” the statement said.
Deputies scared the animal away by firing their guns. But it was too late to save the 21-year-old victim, who has not been identified.
County and state trappers and game wardens “responded to the area, located the mountain lion, and dispatched it,” the post continued.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife later clarified the animal was euthanized. Its body awaits further examination.
The condition of the 18-year-old brother was not known Sunday, March 24. But The Sacramento Bee reported he’s expected to survive.
Law enforcement radio transmissions indicated he was bitten in the face, “pretty cut up but doing OK.”
A few Facebook commenters found political causes behind the attack. One said hunting seasons for mountain lions need to return.
“This is an absolute tragedy and won’t be the last time, if laws are not changed back to what they were before liberal Democrats changed the laws for the worse,” he wrote.
“This young man lost his life while California prevented him from open carrying for self defense,” another commented.
The attack occurred inside the Eldorado National Forest, near Dutch Canyon.
Fox News reported the last deadly mountain lion attack in California occurred in 2004 at a park in Orange County, in the Los Angeles suburbs.
In that case, Mark Reynolds, 35, was attacked after stopping to repair his bicycle.
El Dorado County had its last deadly mountain lion attack in the 1990s. Barbara Schoener, 40, was killed.
But before that, California had no deaths from mountain lions since 1909. About two dozen attacks have been reported over the last 40 years.
The latest attack came only a few days after Knewz.com reported on a group of women in Washington pinning a cougar with a mountain bike to stop an attack.
In 2018, RadarOnline reported on a woman who said she used telepathy and “positive energy training” to get a mountain lion out of her Oregon home.
“They’re looking for deer, not people,” Josh Rosenau with the non-profit Mountain Lion Foundation said. He said California has about 4,500 of the animals.
Rosenau added mountain lions are “scaredy cats” at heart.
“If you make yourself look big and scary, they will almost always turn and run,” he said.
The post Mountain Lion Mauls Two Brothers in Rural California; One Dead, One Bitten on Face appeared first on Knewz.
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Author: Richard Burkard
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