Mountain lion kills man and badly injures his brother

A mountain lion has killed a young man and badly injured his brother in the wilderness of California in what is believed to be the first fatality in the state for 20 years.

The brothers were attacked by the big cat while out looking for antlers that had been naturally shed by deer in a remote part of El Dorado County near Sacramento in northern California.

They were walking through hilly, wooded countryside dotted with private homes and ranches.

The mountain lion killed the older brother, aged 21, and inflicted serious injuries on his 18-year-old brother, especially to his face. He is expected to survive.

The younger brother managed to call the police and raise the alarm.

Neither of the men have been named.

‘Mortally wounded’

When officers arrived at the scene, they found blood spatters on the ground and spotted the cougar crouched over the body of the dead man.

Officers fired their rifles to scare off the cougar so that they could recover the body. They administered first aid to the younger brother.

The attack took place on Saturday afternoon. The cougar was later tracked down and shot dead by officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Police said in a statement: “At 1.13pm, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call indicating that two people had been attacked by a mountain lion.

“Unfortunately, there is one individual who was mortally wounded during the attack. The other individual who was attacked suffered injuries and was taken to a local area hospital for treatment.”

Police radio exchanges, which were monitored by The Sacramento Bee, a local newspaper, revealed emergency officials saying that the younger brother had been bitten in the face by the mountain lion and was “pretty cut up”.

The body of the cougar has been sent to a laboratory to determine its state of health. Mountain lions that are old, injured or ill may be more prone to attacking humans than healthy, robust animals able to take down their natural prey such as deer.

Attacks by mountain lions on humans are highly unusual. The animals normally stay away from people. The last fatality in California was in 2004 in Orange County.

On that occasion, a 35-year-old cyclist was killed by the animal after he stopped to mend his bike chain.

There have been around 20 attacks by mountain lions on people in California since the mid-1980s but only three were fatal.

Josh Rosenau, the director of policy at the Mountain Lion Foundation, said: “This is the first fatal attack in California in 20 years. This is something that is incredibly rare.

“Mountain lions are basically scaredy cats. They’re looking for deer, not people. If you make yourself look big and scary, they will almost always turn and run.”

There are believed to be about 4,500 cougars living in California, he said. Hunting the species is banned in the state.

Cougars have one of the biggest ranges of habitat of any big cat and are found from Alaska to Patagonia. Adults can weigh up to 200lbs.