River rafters fight off mountain lion with their paddles
A group of river rafters fended off a mountain lion by using their paddles.
The mountain lion approached the rafters in a remote area of the White Mountain Apache Reservation in Arizona and attacked a 64-year-old man from New Mexico, according to Gila County Animal Care & Control.
As the lion kept attacking the man, 10 others accompanying him used their rafting paddles to fight it off.
Group members eventually kept the lion at bay and allowed other campers to float away to safety.
The victim is ‘doing well – but still very sore from the attack’, stated county animal control program manager JC Castaneda.
It occurred 21 miles downstream from the Salt River bridge on ApacheNation territory ‘in an especially remote area’, said Castaneda.
The White Mountain Apache Tribe sent a group of hunters with hound dogs to follow the mountain lion’s tracks but have not located it as of Monday, he added.
Anyone with information on the attack is encouraged to contact the White Mountain Apache Game & Fish Department.
The riverside attack happened two days before a mountain lion attacked a couple relaxing in a hot tub in Colorado. The wild cat approached the pair who were enjoying an in-ground hot tub in a wooded subdivision about five miles west of Nathrop.
In the Colorado attack, the mountain lion clawed at a man’s head, leaving him with superficial scratches on the top of his head and near his right ear.
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