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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.
