Boy, 6, Mauled by Cougar in Second Attack at Park

A mountain lion seized and mauled a 6-year-old Huntington Beach boy Sunday as he hiked with family and friends up a nature trail in the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Regional Park. It was the second cougar attack on a child this year in the Orange County park.

The seriously injured child, Justin Mellon, was rescued by his father after he was able to scare the animal away with a hunting knife.

The county park, east of San Juan Capistrano, was closed shortly after the noon attack while park rangers and wildlife biologists stalked the animal. But by late in the day, the cougar had eluded capture.

Justin, a kindergarten student and Little League “T-ball” baseball player, struggled with the cougar for several minutes Sunday before he was rescued, said his father, Timothy Mellon, 28.

“He never did cry that entire time. He just fought that mountain lion, which had to weigh at least 150 pounds,” the father said. “As I was running back down the trail with him in my arms, he kept asking me: ‘Am I going to live?’ ”

A spokeswoman at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo said the boy was in “stable condition,” with lacerations on the back of his head, arms and legs.

His father said doctors had told him and the boy’s mother, Ann Forgy, 30, of Huntington Beach: “He’s going to be all right.”

Last March 23, 5-year-old Laura Michele Small of El Toro was badly mauled by a cougar in the same park. Authorities killed a cougar in the park the next day.

On Aug. 24, U.S. Forest Service firefighter Kenneth Jordan, 29, said he was charged at, but not injured, by another cougar in the 7,500-acre park.

Mellon said the group of about 10 adults and children was hiking in an area about a half-mile from a campground in the popular wooded park off Ortega Highway.

“Justin was up front with the kids until he fell behind to tie his shoe,” Mellon said. “Then he ran to catch up, and he ran around a bend in the trail. The kids . . . were out of vision . . . we heard the children’s laughter turn into screaming.

“Justin’s sister, Aimee, came running back to us, and she had sheer terror on her face. We knew something was terribly wrong.

Lion on Top of Boy

“I threw off my pack and ran. As soon as I could turn the corner, I could see the mountain lion on top of Justin . . . trying to get him in a position where it could drag him away,” the father continued. “But Justin was fighting him on his back for dear life and rolling down (an incline) at the same time. The lion had Justin by the head. At that point, I ran at it with a knife. Right before I got to it, (the lion) released him.

“I dropped my knife and I grabbed Justin and handed him to his mother. Then the lion looked like it was going to attack me, so I picked up my knife real quick and stood there facing it. The lion went back and forth, as if trying to decide whether to attack me.

“Then my friend, Bill, came around the corner, and he was yelling his brains out, telling us to get out of there. I started moving back slowly, then Bill and I both started yelling at the lion. Then the cat took off . . . toward where Ann was going with Justin.

Lion Was Following Them

“The cat was running (in the woods) parallel to us. Ann told me she couldn’t carry Justin any further, and I took him and started running. I think that lion was wondering where Justin was and was following him.”

“We get sightings almost every day; that’s no secret,” Tony Gimbrone, parks district supervisor, said Sunday. “(It’s) not necessarily seeing the lion itself--sometimes just tracks. I’d say we actually see a lion once a week.”

Wildlife experts and biologists have said the combination of a 15-year-old ban on shooting the big cats, combined with encroaching civilization, has concentrated more of the normally wary animals in areas nearer to man.

Girl’s Mother Astounded

Susan Small, mother of Laura Small, reached by phone Sunday night, said: “I can’t believe they would allow this to happen again.”

Donald Small, Laura’s father, said: “They knew there were more lions there. I expected something like this.”

Last month, the Smalls filed a $28-million lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against the county, the state, various local and state agencies and the National Audubon Society. The suit charged that officials were negligent in not warning people using the park of the danger of cougars.

Justin’s parents said there were no warning signs posted Sunday.

Times staff writers Steve Emmons and Maria L. LaGanga also contributed to this story.