Over the weekend, a cougar attacked an eight-year-old boy at Olympic National Park south of Vancouver Island.
In a statement released by the National Park Service, it was revealed that the boy's family had been camping at Lake Angeles when the cougar attacked.
"The cougar casually abandoned its attack after being yelled and screamed at by the child’s mother," the statement read.
The child sustained minor injuries during the attack but was taken to a local hospital for additional assessment.
All the other campers at Lake Angeles were evacuated and the park closed off access to the lake and Heather Park until further notice.
“Due to the extreme nature of this incident, we are closing the Lake Angeles area and several trails in the vicinity,” said Tom Kay. Olympic National Park Wildlife Biologist. “Out of an abundance of caution, the Lake Angeles Trail, Heather Park Trail, Switchback Trail, and the entire Klahhane Ridge Trail are closed until further notice.”
Park law enforcement was dispatched shortly after in an effort to locate the cougar and euthanize and subsequently remove it from the park. It will then go through a necropsy to determine why the cougar attacked the child. Cougar attacks on humans are allegedly very rare.
Olympic National Park is known to have many cougars and the park actively cautions visitors to be prepared to encounter them.
