A mountain lion attacked a 4-year-old child who was walking with family on a popular trail in Washington’s Olympic National Park Sunday afternoon. Steve Murrow and his father-in-law, Mike Flenniken, didn’t realize at first what had happened as they made their way up the trail. But they heard a disturbing sound in the distance. “We heard, like, screaming of a small child,” Murrow said. Both say that when they got to the area, they saw a woman holding the injured child and people trying to comfort the family. “There was another group of people behind them, and they were all huddled up, and they’re like, you guys need to be careful. There was literally just a cougar or a wolf attack,” Murrow said.The trail was closed after the attack as park rangers searched for the mountain lion.Rangers found the animal Monday morning and put it down. Murrow says witnesses told them the child’s father chased after the cougar and got his child away. “He’s a hero,” Murrow said. “You know, just boils down to safety numbers, and it is rare that something like this would happen. I don’t think that kid would survive if it, if it wasn’t for his dad.”Both he and his father-in-law took this as a reminder of the potential, though rare, dangers anyone can face when out in nature. “Stay on the trail and be cognizant of what’s going on around you,” Murrow said.
PORT ANGELES, Wash. —
A mountain lion attacked a 4-year-old child who was walking with family on a popular trail in Washington’s Olympic National Park Sunday afternoon.
Steve Murrow and his father-in-law, Mike Flenniken, didn’t realize at first what had happened as they made their way up the trail. But they heard a disturbing sound in the distance.
“We heard, like, screaming of a small child,” Murrow said.
Both say that when they got to the area, they saw a woman holding the injured child and people trying to comfort the family.
“There was another group of people behind them, and they were all huddled up, and they’re like, you guys need to be careful. There was literally just a cougar or a wolf attack,” Murrow said.
The trail was closed after the attack as park rangers searched for the mountain lion.
Rangers found the animal Monday morning and put it down.
Murrow says witnesses told them the child’s father chased after the cougar and got his child away.
“He’s a hero,” Murrow said. “You know, just boils down to safety numbers, and it is rare that something like this would happen. I don’t think that kid would survive if it, if it wasn’t for his dad.”
Both he and his father-in-law took this as a reminder of the potential, though rare, dangers anyone can face when out in nature.
“Stay on the trail and be cognizant of what’s going on around you,” Murrow said.
