KCRA
One person was killed and another injured in a mountain lion attack Saturday in a remote area of El Dorado County in the Georgetown area of California.
CNN
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One man was killed and another injured in California's first fatal mountain lion attack in 20 years, authorities said.
According to the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office, an 18-year-old boy called authorities around 1:13 p.m. local time Saturday to report that he and his 21-year-old brother had been hunting for antlers in the Georgetown area when they encountered a mountain lion. I reported that I had been attacked. news release.
According to the statement, the caller was separated from his brother during the attack and suffered “trauma” to his face. Police and paramedics carried out rescue operations and transported him to hospital for further treatment.
Police searching for the missing brothers found them lying on the ground next to a crouching mountain lion around 1:46 p.m., the statement said.
The officers fired their guns to scare off the mountain lion and tried to get to the brother, the statement said.
“Deputies fired their firearms to scare away the mountain lion and provide medical assistance,” the release states. When police contacted him, they discovered the 21-year-old had died, the sheriff's office said.
“A fatal accident like this is extremely rare,” El Dorado County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kyle Parker told CNN affiliate KCRA.
The last known mountain lion death in the state was in 2004, when a 35-year-old man was killed at Whiting Ranch Regional Park in Orange County, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Confirmed List of Mountain Lions and Humans. It was done. Attack. ”
“According to historical reports, four fatal incidents involving six victims occurred around the beginning of the last century,” the agency notes. Excluding Saturday's incident, there have been 21 mountain lion attacks (defined as “direct contact between a human and a mountain lion resulting in physical injury or death”) since 1986, according to the list. There is.
The mountain lion was later found by a California Department of Fish and Wildlife ranger and an El Dorado County trapper, Parker said.
“The mountain lion was dispatched and its body was recovered for further testing,” he said.
DNA from the euthanized animal confirmed it was the same animal that fatally attacked the man, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced in an updated news release Sunday.
The male cougar weighed approximately 90 pounds and appeared to be in good health, but “forensic scientists will continue to analyze the autopsy results to determine if this particular animal had any underlying health conditions.” A decision will be made,” officials said.
Parker said the department is still trying to determine why the attack happened.
State officials say mountain lions rarely attack humans. This is the first fatal attack on a mountain lion in California in 30 years.
The last recorded fatal mountain lion attack in El Dorado County was in April 1994, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. A 40-year-old woman has died after being attacked at Auburn State Recreation Area.
Since 1890, fewer than 50 mountain lion attacks on humans have been reported in California, with only six fatalities, according to California wildlife officials. According to police, in most cases the victim was alone at the time of the attack.
CNN has contacted authorities for more information about the attack.
CNN's Cindy Von Quednow contributed to this report.