In a news release, officials at Big Bend National Park in Texas related that a six-year-old boy sustained non-life-threatening injuries in a Sunday attack by a mountain lion in the Chisos Basin of the park.
Chisos Basin is a popular spot near the center of the park that includes a lodge, gift shop, restaurant, and restrooms. Day visitors, lodgers, and campers constantly travel the area. Cars continually negotiate the parking lot. Park rangers and maintenance people routinely come and go in the area, so to see a mountain lion in the vicinity of so much human activity is highly unusual, particularly since mountain lions are normally nocturnal creatures and usually try to keep a distance between themselves and the human population.
The Hobbs family was visiting from Austin, and as they stood in the area between the restaurant and the restrooms, a mountain lion suddenly attacked six-year-old Rivers Hobbs. The animal clamped onto his face and his father, Jason Hobbs, immediately went into action to try to pull the animal from his son. He finally met with success when he stabbed the lion with his pocket knife. The animal let go and ran off into the brush. Park officials almost immediately sprang into action and organized searches by professional dog teams and ranger patrols. In talking with Big Bend spokesman David Elkowitz this Tuesday morning, they had not yet located the lion. Elkowitz described the mountain lion as a “young lion in very poor condition.”
The boy’s injuries required some stitches but he is recovering and doing well. When asked about the attack he said the lion, “snuck up on me.” With stitches in his face, the boy said they did not hurt “that bad.” As a result of the attack, park officials have closed Window Trail, the Pinnacles, Boulder Meadows trails as well as the Juniper Flat campsites of the Chisos Mountains until further notice. Visitors to the park can get further information regarding camping restrictions and trail closures by calling Big Bend National Park at (432) 477-1107.
Elkowitz said the last occurrence of a mountain lion attack in the park happened eight years ago, and since that time, about 3 million visitors have enjoyed the park without incident. “So if you think of it statistically, it’s a one in three million occurrence.”
Image Source: Wikipedia
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