A Southern California family’s Labor Day weekend picnic turned into a terrifying ordeal when a mountain lion attacked a 5-year-old boy and tried to drag him into the woods, prompting his relatives to rescue him from the wild animal’s jaws, authorities said.
The brazen attack unfolded at 4:21 p.m. local time Sunday in Malibu Creek State Park, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and left the child with “significant but non-life-threatening injuries,” according to a statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A family of six adults and several children from Woodland Hills, California, was having a picnic at the park in the Santa Monica Mountains when the large cougar suddenly appeared and snatched the boy as his family and witnesses watched in horror, according to the statement.
“The children were playing in the immediate vicinity of the family’s picnic table when the mountain lion attacked the boy,” fish and wildlife officials said. “One or more adults charged at the lion, and it released the boy.”
The child, whose name was not released, suffered bite and scratch wounds and was airlifted to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was treated and released, officials said.
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