DNA from mountain lion killed after fatal Saturday attack matches sample from scene
Click here for an updated story »» Family identifies brothers, 21 and 18, in fatal Northern California mountain lion attack
California wildlife officials confirmed Sunday night that the mountain lion killed after a fatal attack Saturday that left a 21-year-old man dead in a remote part of El Dorado County was the animal involved in the incident.
“The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has confirmed that the mountain lion euthanized in a remote area near Georgetown yesterday was the same animal involved in a fatal attack earlier in the day,” the department said in a news release. “CDFW’s Wildlife Forensics Laboratory determined today that DNA samples collected from the scene match samples taken from the lion carcass.”
The department said the mountain lion weighed about 90 pounds “and appeared to be in healthy condition.”
The attack on two brothers near Georgetown was the first such fatal incident in 20 years in California, and officials tracked the animal down and killed it hours after the attack.
Authorities said the fatal victim was a 21-year-old man and the brother of an 18-year-old who had called for help Saturday afternoon. Their identities have not been made public.
In an update Sunday, a family spokesman through the Sheriff’s Office said “the 18-year-old brother has undergone multiple surgeries for his injuries and is expected to make a full recovery.”
“The family is grateful for the prayers and condolences from the community, however, wishes for privacy in order to process this tragic event,” the statement said.
Deputies also said Sunday that while there were “multiple” GoFundMe accounts created to support the family, “these accounts are not associated with the family or authorized by the family.”
The men had been in the area — a hilly, forested landscape dotted by ranches and private homes behind locked gates — searching for deer antler sheds when the attack happened around 1 p.m.
The attack occurred five miles southeast of Georgetown on Darling Ridge Road near Skid Road not far from Dutch Canyon, according to dispatchers. The area lies within Eldorado National Forest, 70 miles northeast of downtown Sacramento.
“At 1:13 p.m., the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call indicating that two people had been attacked by a mountain lion,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
“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. More information will be provided as it becomes available.”
Dispatch audio reviewed by The Sacramento Bee said the 18-year-old was bitten in the face and “was pretty cut up but doing OK” after locking himself behind a gate following the attack.
‘Lion had a hold of his neck’
A dispatcher can be heard requesting help “for a possible mountain lion attack.”
“Information they had was the (reporting party’s) brother was being pinned down on the lion and the lion had a hold of his neck,” the dispatcher said.
“The reporting party ... was also bit in the face and the victim is in an unknown location at this point,” the dispatcher said. First responders were told by the brother that “the lions had him.”
Deputies armed with rifles located a blood splatter and a hat belonging to the brother before they found him.
Personnel found the mountain lion crouched next to the 21-year-old and fired their weapons to scare off the cougar. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Sheriff’s Office said that officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, working to locate the mountain lion with the help of trappers, announced just before 8 p.m. that the mountain lion had been found and killed.
“The mountain lion was located by game wardens and trappers of California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the El Dorado County Trapper,” a sheriff’s statement said. “The mountain lion was dispatched, and the body of the mountain lion was collected for further examination.”
CDFW issued a statement late Saturday saying that “a mountain lion was euthanized near the scene of the attack.”
“The mountain lion has been sent to the CDFW forensics laboratory to obtain DNA information and general health of the lion,” the statement said.
Mountain lion attacks in California unusual
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s listing of verified mountain lion attacks on humans indicates the last fatal attack in California occurred in January 2004 in Whiting Ranch Regional Park in Orange County.
News accounts from that incident indicate a 35-year-old cyclist named Mark Reynolds was killed after he stopped to fix his bicycle chain and was attacked.
The last fatal attack in Northern California occurred in the Auburn State Recreation Area in El Dorado County April 23, 1994, when 40-year-old Barbara Schoener was attacked in Auburn Lake Trails.
At the time, Schoener was the first person killed by a mountain lion in the state since 1909, The Bee previously reported.
Mountain lions are protected by law from being hunted in California, and have been designated as a specially protected mammal since the passage of Proposition 117 in 1990.
Mountain lion attacks on humans are considered rare, with about two dozen reported since the mid-1980s, and fatal attacks are considered much more rare.
“This is the first fatal attack in California in 20 years,” said Josh Rosenau, director of Policy and Advocacy for the non-profit Mountain Lion Foundation. “This is something that is incredibly rare.”
Rosenau said there are an estimated 4,500 mountain lions in California.
Mountain lions typically are afraid of humans and human voices, and that some attacks may be attributed to illness or injuries in the animals.
“Mountain lions are basically scaredy cats,” he said. “They are deer specialists, they’re looking for deer, not people.
“If you make yourself look big and scary they will almost always turn and run.”
Recent reports of mountain lion attacks on humans include the May 2022 attack on a hiker in Trinity County who was saved when her dog, a 2½-year-old Belgian Malinois named Eva, fought the cat off.
The hiker survived, but the dog later died.
