BAILEY, Colo.– An 8-year-old boy is in fair condition after he was attacked by a mountain lion Wednesday in Bailey.
The mountain lion bit the boy outside a home in the Burland Ranchettes subdivision about 7:30 p.m.
According to CPW, the boy and his brother were playing on a trampoline when the 8-year-old heard a friend calling from a neighboring house. The 8-year-old ran to see the friend.
“While he was running, the mountain lion attacked and bit the boy on the head,” CPW said in a press release.
The brother ran inside the house and told their father that something did not sound right.
“The father rushed outside and found the mountain lion on top of his son. The mountain lion let go of the child as the father approached and took off running. A 911 call was made and the boy was taken to the hospital,” CPW said in the release.
In the 911 call, you can hear the boy’s mother frantically explaining to a dispatcher what happened.
Dispatcher: What about a mountain lion?
Woman: A Mountain Lion attacked my son…
Dispatcher: A Mountain lion did what in the head?
Woman: Attacked my son!
Dispatcher: Attacked your son in the head?
Woman: Yes
Dispatcher: Is your son conscious?
Woman: Yes
Dispatcher: Is your son breathing?
Woman: Yes
Two mountain lions were euthanized on Thursday. Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it believes one of the mountain lions is the one that attacked the boy.
The agency said a dog team was in the area of the attack Thursday and received a call from a landowner who was missing a goat and had just seen two mountain lions.
Wildlife officers responded to the area, which was about one mile away from the site of the original attack.
When officers arrived, they found two mountain lions fitting the description of the lion involved in the attack.
Both lions were then euthanized.
The mountain lions will be taken to a CPW lab for necropsies. The bodies will then be sent to a forensic lab in Wyoming for DNA analysis.
Since 1990, there have been 22 mountain lion attacks on people in Colorado, according to CPW. Three of the attacks were fatal, with the most recent fatal attack occurring in 1999.