2 Mountain Lions Euthanized After 8-Year-Old Boy Bitten On Head

Two mountain lions were euthanized Thursday after an 8-year-old boy was attacked outside his home in Bailey Wednesday night.

Wildlife officials said that one of the mountain lions was the one that attacked the boy.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife posted on their official Twitter page that they believe that one of these two lions is from the attack Wednesday night.”

FOX 31, who also reported about the incident, added that CPW is firm in their belief due to the lions' “proximity and that they fit the description of the lion reported to us from the attack.”

An update on Wednesday's attack pointed out that the run-in occurred at around 7:30 p.m. when the boy and his brother were playing on a trampoline outside their home. The victim heard a friend, who was calling from a neighboring house, and ran “to see the friend.”

CPW said that it was at this moment that the mountain lion attacked the boy “and bit him on the head.”

Sensing that something wasn't right, the brother ran inside the house and told their father, who immediately rushed outside “and found the mountain lion on top of his son.”

The lion let go the the boy as the father approached and took off running, the press release added.

A 9-1-1 call was made and the boy was immediately rushed to the hospital where he stayed overnight.

“The kid probably triggered the lion's natural response to a prey animal running,” said Area Wildlife Manager Mark Lamb.

CPW meanwhile initiated a search with the help of a dog team from the USDA Wildlife Services to track down the animal. Officers also set up a trap near the area of the mountain lion attack.

CPW received a call Thursday from a landowner “who was missing a goat and had just seen two mountain lions.” Officers responded to the depredation call, which was roughly a mile from where the original attack took place.

“Upon arrival, they found two mountain lions that fit the description of the lion from the attack,” CPW's Twitter post said.

The euthanized mountain lions will be transported to a CPW lab for necropsies. The bodies will then be transferred to a forensics lab in Wyoming “for DNA analysis.”

The process will ensure CPW “with absolute certainty” that they got the mountain lion that attacked the boy.

CPW Northeast Division spokesperson Jason Clay opined that that mountain lions “surprise their prey when they run by,” and that the attacked happened in “wildlife country” where are are bears, mountain lions and other animals.

The lion who attacked the boy was described to be “smaller in size.”