BOISE, Idaho -- A mountain lion was shot and killed after it attacked a 10-year-old boy after dark.
The boy was looking for a missing hunting dog in heavy sagebrush when he encountered the mountain lion about 8:30 Thursday night.
The 10-year-old boy was with his dad near their Mores Creek subdivision home 15 to 20 miles from Boise.
When the boy turned to run, the lion chased him. When the boy was on the ground, the lion caught up to him, and scratched the boy's arm and hand. The boy's father shot his handgun into the air, and the lion ran away.
Idaho Fish and Game conservation officers, an off-duty Meridian police officer, a Boise County sheriff's deputy and four dogs arrived and began searching for the lion.
They found it when its eyes reflected their search lights. The juvenile female lion was found protecting her prey -- the family's dog.
Members of the search party fired several shots from handguns and a rifle and killed the lion.
At a Friday press conference, Steve Nadeau with Idaho Fish and Game said one or two lions still live in the area, which is ideal mountain lion habitat, he said.
Mountain lion attacks like the one Thursday are rare, he said -- just the second recorded instance of a mountain lion injuring a human in Idaho, he said. Nadeau said about 2,000 mountain lions live in the state.
Matt O'Connell, senior regional conservation officer with Idaho Fish and Game, said the boy "was treated with Band-Aids and TLC from his mom and dad."
The boy's biggest worry, O'Connell said, was that his friends at school wouldn't believe his story about the attack.
The names of the boy and his father were not released.
(c)2011 The Idaho Statesman (Boise, Idaho)
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