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Verified Mountain Lion Attacks on Humans in California(1890 through 2007)

DATE

TYPE

ATTACK LOCATION

COUNTY

VICTIM SEX

AGE

June 1890

Fatal

Quartz Valley

Siskiyou

Male

7yrs.

July 1909

Fatal*

Morgan Hill

Santa Clara

Male

10 yrs.

Fatal*

Female

22 yrs.

March 1986

Nonfatal

Caspers Wilderness Park

Orange

Female

5 yrs.

Oct. 1986

Nonfatal

Caspers Wilderness Park

Orange

Male

6 yrs.

March 1992

Nonfatal

Gaviota State Park

Santa Barbara

Male

9 yrs.

Sept. 1993

Nonfatal

Cuyamaca State Park

San Diego

Female

10 yrs.

Apr. 1994

Fatal

Auburn State Recreation Area

El Dorado

Female

40 yrs.

Aug. 1994

Nonfatal

Mendocino County (remote)

Mendocino

Male

50s

Nonfatal

Female

50s

Dec. 1994

Fatal

Cuyamaca State Park

San Diego

Female

56 yrs.

Mar. 1995

Nonfatal

Mt. Lowe (San Gabriel Mtns.)

Los Angeles

Male

27 yrs.

Jan. 2004

Fatal

Whiting Ranch Regional Park

Orange

Male

35 yrs.

Jan. 2004

Nonfatal

Whiting Ranch Regional Park

Orange

Female

30 yrs.

June 2004

Nonfatal

Sequoia National Forest

Tulare

Female

28 yrs.

Jan. 2007 Nonfatal Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park Humboldt Male 70 yrs
*Fatalities in 1909 diagnosed as due to rabies.
Last updated: Feb. 7, 2007

Note: Two additional incidents have been reported by the media as attacks. However, they do not fit the criteria of verifiable attacks on humans and were not confirmed. One incident involved a turkey hunter who was camouflaged and calling for turkeys when a mountain lion approached from behind. Immediately after the mountain lion confronted the hunter and realized that the hunter was not a turkey, the lion ran away. This is not judged to be an attack on a human. Every indication suggests that if the hunter had not been camouflaged and calling like a turkey, the mountain lion would have avoided him. The other incident on the Los Padres National Forest was described as a mountain lion attack on a boy near a stream. However, the alleged injuries were not verified by a physician, law enforcement officer or DFG personnel.