Lion Suspected of Mauling Girl Tracked, Killed

An Orange County Animal Control officer this morning shot and killed a scrawny 90-pound mountain lion, believed to be the same animal that badly mauled a 5-year-old El Toro girl on Sunday.

After five specially trained dogs had chased the lion up a tree in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, an animal control officer fired a tranquilizer dart intending to take the animal alive. But the cat apparently was underdosed with tranquilizer and was shot to death with a rifle when authorities determined that it was a threat to the dog.

Authorities said the animal was 2 to 3 years old and underweight. Normally, a mountain lion of that age would weigh more than 100 pounds, an animal control spokesman said.

The cat was killed about eight miles northeast of San Juan Capistrano and 1 1/2 miles upstream from where Laura Michele Small was attacked on Sunday. The girl was reported in serious but stable condition this morning.

Animal control officials had hoped to take the mountain lion alive to determine why the lion, normally considered a shy animal that usually hunts at night, attacked the girl in the daytime with about 500 people in the park.

Girl attacked, Story on Page 15.