An 8-year-old Denver boy has been seriously injured after a mountain lion viciously attacked him outside of his home.
The young child was jumping on a trampoline with his brother on Wednesday evening when he heard one of his friends calling for him from a house next door, officials with the Colorado Parks & Wildlife said in a press release.
As he ran over, a mountain lion pounced on him and bit the boy on the head, according to the press release.
Hearing the frightening sounds coming from his brother and the wild animal, the boy’s brother raced inside the home to tell their father, according to the press release. The dad then ran out and found his son trapped beneath the lion.
As the father approached his son, the lion bolted off and he quickly dialed 911. The boy was then taken to a nearby hospital, where he stayed overnight.
Park officers quickly arrived on the scene and set out traps in hopes of finding the lion. A team of three dogs were also brought to the home to search, Colorado Parks & Wildlife said.
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“By policy, any wildlife attack on a human resulting in injury, that animal must be put down,” the press release states.
“The kid was running and it probably triggered the lions natural response to a prey animal running,” said Area Wildlife Manager Mark Lamb in the press release.
The lion remained on the loose until Thursday.
Colorado Parks & Wildlife revealed on Twitter that they received a call from a “landowner who was missing a goat and had just seen two mountain lions.”
Officers responded to the call and found the mountain lions “that fit the description of the lion from the attack.”
CPW tweeted that the animals “were then euthanized.”
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“We believe that one of these two lions is from the attack Wednesday night. We say that because of the proximity and that they fit the description of the lion reported to us from the attack,” CPW continued.
“A necropsy will now take place of the mountain lions at our health lab before being sent to a Forensic Lab in Wyoming for DNA analysis. That is how we would be able to confirm with absolute certainty that we got the mountain lion from the attack.”
At this time, the boy’s condition is unknown. His name has not been made public.
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