Dear *|FIRST_NAME|*,
Our hearts go out to the Brooks family.
The Mountain Lion Foundation sends condolences and warmth to the loved ones of Taylen Brooks, who was killed by a mountain lion in Eldorado County, California on Saturday. Our thoughts are especially with his brother, Wyatt. The fact that Saturday's event was the first fatal attack in California in 20 years doesn’t make it any less traumatic.
There are still details that we don't know about the event that happened near Georgetown in northern California. We do know that wardens from California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and an Eldorado County community member killed the lion that attacked Taylen and Wyatt just hours after the encounter. CDFW sent a press release on Sunday that confirmed the lion's identity by matching its DNA.
The Agency has stated that the mountain lion was a "healthy" male that weighed 90 pounds. They have ordered a necropsy, which will hopefully yield more information about the cat's health and biology, and potentially offer a reason for the rare attack. When we know more, we will share it with you.
Mountain lion attacks on people are exceedingly rare.
Since 1986, there have been 28 mountain lion attacks total in California (fatal and non-fatal). In the United States, there have been 29 fatal attacks since 1900. Mountain lions generally avoid humans, and their instinct is to hunt deer and elk, not humans, pets, or livestock.
Despite a decades-long hunting ban, humans are still the leading cause of death for California’s lions. A 2023 study found that two mountain lions are killed by cars every week in the state. Rodenticides, development of wild lands, and lethal responses to livestock depredations all kill many of the state’s mountain lions each year.
There's a lot of talk right now about why Saturday's terrible event happened.
We encourage our members to please help us respectfully inform these conversations with research about what the science says about mountain lion populations and the risks associated with attempting to "manage" them through sport hunting.
In the West, we live alongside wildlife like mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, bears, and other animals. At the Mountain Lion Foundation, it is our hope and purpose to ensure that these types of traumatic encounters will be as rare as possible.
Thank you so much for your support.