A five-year-old boy is alive thanks to his quick reacting mom.
The boy, listed in fair condition by his doctors, was being attacked by a mountain lion in Colorado. The young boy’s mother heard his screams and jumped into action.
The child and his brother were playing in their backyard, about 10 miles outside of Aspen, when the attack occurred.
Authorities received a 911 call around 8 p.m. from a man wanting to notify Aspen Valley Hospital that he was driving his son to the hospital.
Authorities say the boy’s mom “had to physically remove the lion’s paws from her son’s face.”
Doctors at Aspen Valley Hospital treated the boy before he was transferred to a Children’s Hospital in Denver.
Police arrived at the family’s home and found the mountain lion still in their backyard. An officer from the US Forest Service was forced to kill the animal.
It’s very rare for mountain lions to kill people, there have been less than a dozen fatalities reported in North American in more than 100 years.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife does advocate trying to fight back if attacked by a mountain lion. It was likely the mom’s heroic actions that saved her son’s life.
