Rangers Kill Cougar That Charged at Boy in San Diego Park

Park rangers tracked and killed an adult female mountain lion in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park on Monday, a day after a big cat charged a child.

California Department of Fish and Game wardens and federal Animal Damage Control trackers found the 83-pound lion, which had rushed within five feet of a 3-year-old boy, after a brief search and killed it about 6 a.m., said Fish and Game spokesman Bob Schlichting.

The Yuma, Ariz., family was hiking in the San Diego County park Sunday when the animal bared its teeth and crouched to spring until the boy’s father warded it off by waving a stick and shouting, he told officials.

Sunday’s cougar confrontation was not the first for the park or the area. In September, the same park closed briefly while rangers tracked and killed a cougar that bit a little girl.

County park rangers at Aliso and Woods Canyons Regional Park in Laguna Beach received reports in April and May of mountain lion sightings from park visitors, which prompted rangers to ask the state Department of Fish and Game to investigate.