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A section of Washington’s Olympic National Park has been closed following a cougar attack near Lake Angeles. Image courtesy National Park Service
July 31 (UPI) — Officials have closed a section of Washington’s Olympic National Park after an 8-year-old child camping with its family at Lake Angeles survived a rare cougar attack over the weekend.
“Due to the extreme nature of this incident, we are closing the Lake Angeles area and several trails in the vicinity,” Olympic National Park wildlife biologist Tom Kay said in a statement.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Lake Angeles Trail, Heather Park Trail, Switchback Trail and the entire Klahhane Ridge Trail are closed until further notice.”
The National Park Service said it was notified of the attack Saturday evening, stating it occurred as the child was camping with its family at Lake Angeles.
The cougar abandoned its victim in response to screams of the child’s mother, officials said, adding that the unidentified child suffered only minor injuries and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
All remaining campers in the quarantined area have been evacuated, it said.
Park law enforcement and wildlife trackers were deployed early Sunday to the cougar’s last known location in search of the animal, which will be euthanized when found and removed from the park to undergo a necropsy, which the park said may shed light on the reason why it attacked the child “since cougars are rarely seen and attacks on humans are extraordinarily rare.”
All of Olympic National Park’s more than 900,000 acres is consider to be cougar territory, and, according to the Washington Department of Fisk and Wildlife, is home to a cougar population of between 1,900 and 2,100 animals.
“Cougar attacks on people are extremely rare,” the department said. “A person is 1,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a cougar.”
Between 1924 and 2018, there have only been two reported fatalities from cougar attacks in the state, it said.
Though cougar attacks are rare, the National Park Service is warning those in Olympic National Park to be prepared for an encounter.
“If you meet a cougar, it is important to not run because it could trigger the cougar’s attack instinct. Instead, people should group together, appear as large as possible, keep eyes on the animal, make lots of noise and shout loudly,” it said.
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