Mountain lion kills 21-year-old brother in El Dorado County
GEORGETOWN, Calif. - A 21-year-old brother died Saturday and his 18-year-old brother was injured after being attacked by a mountain lion in El Dorado County, officials said.
The brothers were collecting and gathering deer antlers. The younger brother survived the attack and called the sheriff's office.
This was the first fatal mountain lion attack in California in 20 years. The last fatal encounter was in 2004 in Orange County, according to a verified list kept by the Fish and Wildlife Department.
The 1:15 p.m. attack happened in Georgetown, a remote part of the county, about 55 miles northeast of Sacramento, the El Dorado County Sheriff's Office said.
"Unfortunately, there is one individual who was mortally wounded during the attack," the sheriff's office stated. The older brother died at the scene.
Deputies arrived at around 1:30 p.m. to find the younger brother with facial injuries. Minutes later, they saw a crouched mountain lion next to the older brother on the ground, according to the statement.
The deputies fired their guns and scared off the big cat.
The surviving brother "has undergone multiple surgeries for his injuries and is expected to make a full recovery," the sheriff's office said Sunday. "The family is grateful for the prayers and condolences from the community, however wishes for privacy in order to process this tragic event."
The mountain lion was found and trapped by California Department of Fish and Wildlife wardens and then euthanized, officials said.
"The mountain lion has been sent to the CDFW forensics laboratory to obtain DNA information and general health of the lion," the department said on X.
Later on Sunday, CDFW officials confirmed that the animal euthanized was the same involved in Saturday's attack. CDFW's forensics lab matched DNA samples from the scene to the lion's carcass.
The male mountain lion weighed approximately 90 pounds and appeared to be in healthy condition.
Investigators will try to determine what led to the attack.
Josh Roseneau is the policy director for the Mountain Lion Foundation, based in Sacramento.
He said a 90-pound mountain lion is about 11 months old, and speculated the lion may have been an inexperienced or confused hunter and that deer are their preferred prey.
"If the people were crouching down, carrying antlers - we just don't know, but it's possible there's that sort of mistaken identity that happened," Roseneau speculated.
He added that people are more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion, but said if you do encounter one on a trail you should keep some things in mind: "There's a lot of research that says mountain lions don't like human voices," he said. "If you're big and loud and scary, they don't want to be around that."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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