Wildlife Officials Say the Girl Was Bitten Near Her Family’s Chicken Coop
Wildlife officers shot and killed a mountain lion Sunday after it attacked an 11-year-old girl outside her Malibu home, injuring her arm, leg, and lower back, authorities said.
The child was near a chicken coop on her family’s property in the 32500 block of Pacific Coast Highway around 5:30 p.m. when the cougar lunged at her from behind, according to Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Lost Hills Station and emergency crews rushed to the scene.
The girl’s mother, alerted by her screams, ran to help with one of her other children. A family member discharged a stun gun, and the noise drove the animal away, Tira said. The victim was taken to a hospital with what officials described as minor injuries and is expected to recover.
Fish and Wildlife officers later located a mountain lion in the area and euthanized it. DNA samples collected from the girl will be compared with the animal to confirm its involvement.
State data show mountain lion attacks on humans are rare, with 27 confirmed cases since 1986, most of them nonfatal. The last deadly incident occurred in March 2024, when a 21-year-old man was killed near Georgetown in Northern California.
In recent months, there have been other encounters in Southern California, including a July incident in Ojai where a cougar approached a hiker and a September attack at Malibu Creek State Park that left a 5-year-old boy injured.
