Mountain Lion attacks boy at Woody Creek home
The Aspen Times
Courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife |
A young boy was attacked Friday night by a mountain lion in the yard of his home below Woody Creek, a law enforcement official said.
The boy’s condition was unknown, though Pitkin County Undersheriff Ron Ryan said that as of about 9:15 p.m., he remained at Aspen Valley Hospital with injuries to his head and neck.
Emergency dispatchers received a call at about 8 p.m. from the boy’s father, who said he was driving his son to the hospital after the attack, Ryan said. Deputies met the father at the hospital and briefly saw the boy, who is between 3 and 5 years old, before he was taken into the emergency room, he said.
Ryan did not know the extent of the injuries, though he said the boy was conscious and alert at the hospital.
Deputies then drove to the family’s residence on Lower River Road downvalley of Woody Creek and located the mountain lion under some trees in the yard, he said.
“Since it was still there, it was either injured or very ill, so they dispatched it,” Ryan said.
The animal was shot by deputies or a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer who also was at the scene, he said. Numerous toys and bikes were near the area where the mountain lion was killed, he said.
Further details of the attack were not available Friday night.
