Child Snatched by Cougar, Survives

Mountain lion snatches Leander boy in Big Bend; child survives

Taking all the recommended precautions wasn't enough to keep a mountain lion from snatching a 6-year-old Leander boy from his mother's hand and clamping its jaws on his face at Big Bend National Park on Sunday night. About 8 p.m., Kristi Harris, her husband and their two boys were leaving the restaurant at Chisos Mountains Lodge after dinner on the first day of their vacation. Each parent was gripping one boy's hands, and they headed to their room, Harris said.

Aw, but it's so cute!

 Now that's either a bold or desperate cat.

Harris and her husband, Jason Hobbs, had heard about a mountain lion that tried to attack a family on a park trail earlier in the day before it was scared off when a backpack was thrown at it. The parents then decided to have the boys sleep indoors with mom rather than camp outside with dad, and throughout the day, they made sure to keep the boys close by, Harris said. "This attack did not happen on a trail. We were not hiking," Harris said. "We were on a paved walkway in between a restaurant and a hotel, and this cat grabbed my child from me."

The lion dragged Rivers Hobbs into a bush next to the walkway, Harris said. Jason Hobbs jumped on top of the lion and was hitting it while Harris gripped its hind legs; Hobbs eventually stabbed the lion's chest with his pocketknife, Harris said. The lion dropped the boy and ran away, Harris said.

I've never seen a cougar in the wild, although we're fairly sure some occasionally prowled the property in Oregon we used to hunt on.  Perhaps I've been sized up and rejected as too much trouble.