Cougar kills 1, injures 1 in rare attack

A mountain lion killed a 21-year-old man Saturday and injured his 18-year-old brother, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff ’s Office.

The last reported fatal mountain lion attack in California was in 2004, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The brothers had been out hunting for shed antlers in a remote area of Darling Ridge Road and Skid Road in Georgetown (El Dorado County) when the attack happened. The 18-year-old called 911 at 1:13 p.m. saying he and his brother were attacked and he was suffering traumatic injuries to his face, the sheriff ’s office said. He said he had been separated from his older brother during the attack, according to the sheriff ’s office.

Authorities and paramedics arrived at the scene about 20 minutes later. They began treating the 18-year-old and searching for the 21-yearold.

Sheriff’s office deputies found the older brother on the ground about 10 minutes later, with the mountain lion crouched beside him. The deputies discharged their weapons to scare off the mountain lion, but when they got to the man, he was dead, according to the sheriff ’s office.

The mountain lion was later found and killed by game wardens and trappers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the El Dorado County Trapper. The mountain lion’s body was collected for examination, according to the sheriff ’s office.

Beth Pratt, regional executive director of the National Wildlife Federation, did not have further details on this specific attack, but said most of the time when there is human conflict with wildlife, it is related to animals protecting their young or their food source.

Pratt, who has studied and written about mountain lions, said the animals don’t see humans as prey and try to avoid encounters. “Mountain lions really want nothing to do with us,” she said.

Pratt said that if you see a mountain lion out in the wilderness, that’s already a sign that it’s not hunting you, because the animals are stealth predators. If you do come across one, though, she advised to act big and yell.

About half of California is mountain lion habitat, according to the U.S. Forest Service, “so odds are you’re living among mountain lions and they are living among us every day without incident all over the state,” Pratt said. “Most of the time when a person and a mountain lion come in close proximity, the person’s not even going to know about it.”