Mountain Lion Attacks Bicyclists In California

Fri January 09 2004
Posted Jan 8, 2004
7,732

Woman Injured, Man Dead POSTED: 6:39 a.m. EST January 9, 2004 WHITING RANCH, Calif. -- A sheriff's deputy has shot and killed a mountain lion that may have been responsible for two separate attacks on bicyclists in an Orange County, Calif., wilderness park. Orange County Fire Captain Stephen Miller said the lion attacked a female bicyclist shortly after 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park. The cat dragged the woman by her head. After the lion grabbed the woman bicyclist, several other mountain bikers started throwing rocks at the animal until it fled. A friend of the woman who was bicycling with her tells a TV station she grabbed the woman's legs -- but the mountain lion kept on pulling. The injured woman remains hospitalized in critical condition. Later, near the location where the female cyclist was attacked, the body of an unidentified man was found at the top of a trail, near a bicycle. They couldn't immediately confirm whether he also was attacked by the mountain lion. Examinations will be done on the man's body and on the mountain lion. "We don't know how long he's been out there," Miller said. "But it's pretty obvious that an animal was involved in this (death)." The animal will be taken to a laboratory where a necropsy will be performed. Another article: http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/West/01/09/mountain.lion/index.html