Mother punches a mountain lion several times to rescue 5-year-old son from deadly attack

An incident of close encounter with wildlife and human bravado has surfaced from the state of California in the US where a mountain lion suddenly sprang up on a 5-year-old child playing in his yard and dragged him across the front lawn of his house.

The 30-kg panther was moments away from dragging the young boy away to presumably a premature death, when the heroics of his mother resulted in his rescue.

The mother, who was inside the house at that time, ran towards the beast and started to punch and strike the mountain lion with her bare hands in a bid to free her son from its clasp. Her bravery bore fruit and the mountain lion let go of the child.

The 5-year-old reported suffered major trauma and injuries to his head and upper part of the torso. He was rushed by his parents to a hospital and is now in a stable condition.

The police were notified about the mountain lion attack after which a wildlife officer went to the location of the incident to look for the big cat.

The officer found the mountain lion crouching and hiding in nearby bushes and hissing at them. He concluded that it was the same animal who attacked the child, considering the proximity of the location and its behaviour.

The wildlife officer reportedly decided to shoot the mountain lion dead to ensure the safety of the public in the area. The dead mountain lion was confirmed as the one that attacked the child following DNA test done after the kill.