Wildfire A Factor In Lion Attack?

Wildlife officials say a mountain lion that attacked a hiker in Central California over the weekend did not have rabies and was well below its average weight.

State Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano says the two-year-old male lion weighed 58 pounds, while most cougars its age weigh 80 to 100 pounds.

Shannon Parker, 27, had been hiking with her boyfriend and two other friends in the Giant Sequoia National Monument north of Kernville Saturday when the lion attacked. Her boyfriend fought off the animal and it was later killed by wildlife officers.

Authorities say a necropsy determined that the animal didn't have rabies and that its stomach was empty except for the bone of a rodent.

Parker lost her right eye in the attack and had deep wounds to her right thigh.

Parker was hiking with three male friends about 20 miles north of Kernville when the lion attacked her as she walked alone back to her car, Martarano said. The lion ran off after Parker's friends stabbed it and threw rocks at it.

Parker's boyfriend, Mathias Maciejewski, 28, stabbed the lion with a knife and Jason Quirino, 30, and Ben Aaron Marsh, 15, threw rocks at the animal until it ran off, Martarano said.

The lion left a bloody trail as it fled, and was later shot and killed by U.S. Forest Service officers and state game wardens, Martarano said.

The lion "appeared to be emaciated" and officials will do a necropsy Monday to determine whether it was sick or injured, Martarano said.

A 2002 wildfire in the area may have hampered the lion's ability to find enough food, he said.

"Before the fire, (the area) was considered moderate to good mountain lion and deer habitat. The fire changed everything," but the area had recently started to revive, Martarano said.

He said the incident was the 15th mountain lion attack on a human in California since 1890.

In January, a mountain lion killed a cyclist and mauled another near Los Angeles.