Tracker Kills Lion; Mauled Girl Taken Off the Critical List

A male mountain lion, believed to be the animal that attacked and gravely injured a 5-year-old girl in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, was treed by hunting dogs and shot to death Monday morning not far from the spot where it had jumped on the child Sunday.

News of the animal’s death came as the girl, Laura Michele Small of El Toro, was taken off the critical list after 12 hours of surgery to cleanse and close the puncture wounds in her head and neck. Laura was listed in serious condition Monday at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo with stable vital signs.

“Whether there will be any damage (to brain or eyes) remains to be seen,” a hospital spokeswoman said.

Orange County Fire Department paramedics had administered first aid to the child at the wilderness park while awaiting a medical rescue helicopter.

When none was available in either Orange or Los Angeles counties, the Sheriff’s Department helicopter Duke 1 was enlisted to airlift the critically injured child to the Mission Viejo hospital, Sheriff’s Lt. Richard Olson said.

The chopper is one of two purchased last year for the department last year, both named for the late John Wayne, a longtime Orange County resident.

The 7,500-acre park was closed by rangers after the 2 p.m. Sunday attack. The search for the animal went on until after dark with the aid of five so-called tree Walker hounds, dogs which have been trained to ignore the scent of all other creatures such as coyotes or raccoons, concentrating only on the lions, which also are known as pumas, cougars or catamounts.

Mountain Lion Treed

The hunt was resumed Monday, and about 10 a.m. the dogs, owned and controlled by Joel Shows of San Bernardino, treed a mountain lion about 1 1/2 miles up Bell Canyon from where the attack occurred.

“It was about 10 feet up in an oak tree,” said state Department of Fish and Game Capt. Rod Shackelford.

Shackelford fired a tranquilizer dart, loaded with 10 cubic centimeters of ketamine hydrochloride.

“Apparently, it wasn’t a big enough dose,” he said. “The cat came down, started fighting with the dogs, ran through the brush, still fighting and threatening us in the dense undergrowth. Joe (Shows) had to shoot him to save the dogs.”

Rangers said the mountain lion’s paw prints matched in size and shape those found at the place where the girl was mauled.

The attack was, according to wildlife biologists and state wardens, the first known incident in California in which a mountain lion assaulted a human being.

“Mountain lions generally hunt by night. There is plenty of natural game, from ground squirrels to deer, in this park,” said senior park Ranger Bruce Buchman. “Also, the cats are secretive and shy around humans, and there were about 500 people and all their people odors in the park when the attack took place in broad daylight.”

It had been hoped that the animal could be captured alive for study of its condition. Instead, blood samples were taken to see if any light could be shed on what caused it to act as it did.

The animal, estimated to be 2 or 3 years old, appeared to be somewhat emaciated, weighing only about 90 pounds when it could be expected that a male of that age would weigh well over 100 pounds.

The carcass was taken to the Orange County Animal Shelter where an examination will be performed to determine whether the animal had rabies. Officials said no decision had been made on whether an autopsy would be performed.

One animal authority said he believed the lion may have been one that was raised in captivity and set free when it got too large to handle, possibly accounting for its almost unheard of behavior in making a daylight attack on a human.

The theory came from Greg Hickman, vice president of the Alliance of Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education, composed of members of different animal rescue groups from 10 Southern California counties. He is also head of the North Orange County Regional Occupational Program where wild animals of all kinds--including mountain lions--are treated and cared for.

“I strongly believe that this animal had been captured by someone when it was small and then turned loose when it got too big to handle,” he said. “When it got back in the wild, it didn’t have the skills to properly hunt its natural prey. Furthermore, it had lost some of its fear of humans.

“When I heard of the attack, the first thing that struck me was that if it had been a normal male wild lion, the child would have been killed almost instantly.”

Rangers said the park, on Ortega Highway about eight miles northeast of San Juan Capistrano, was reopened shortly after the lion was killed.