PIC: Boy, 5, who was brutally attacked by mountain lion before his mother wrestled the animal off him

A five-year-old boy was brutally attacked by a mountain lion in California before his mother had to wrestle the animal off him, leaving him with cuts and bruises on his face.

Jack Trexler, 5, of Half Moon Bay, was attacked near his home around 6:50 p.m. Tuesday. His mother Suzie Trexler had to fight the animal away from her son, who was left with some ‘battle wounds’.

“He is the most courageous, adventurous little boy I have ever met and I am not surprised that if there was a child who could wrestle a mountain lion and come out victorious it would be Jack,” wrote his aunt Amie Wagner on GoFundMe. , which raised more than $26,000 in one day.

“Jack has many cuts, especially on his precious face, in addition to a fracture in one eye. He’s covered in cuts, bruises and scrapes, but his mind remains intact.’

His mother Suzie Trexler had to fight the animal away from her son, who was left with some ‘battle wounds’

The family was told that the mountain lion – which did not bite Jack, only scratched it – was barely missing an inch near its eye.

Jack was ahead of his mother and grandparents along Tunitas Creek Road when a cougar attacked him near his family’s farm, Potrero Nuevo. The mountain lion was getting a drink and the family suspects Jack scared him, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Suzie attacked the animal after it started attacking her child. As she approached, the animal let go of Jack. Suzie immediately took her child in her arms and “ran down the hill” to get him to safety and took him to a local hospital.

Jack was later transferred to a trauma center, Wagner told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Jack has many cuts, especially on his precious face, in addition to a fracture in one eye. He is covered in cuts, bruises and scrapes, but his spirit remains intact,” his aunt said

Jack was ahead of his mother and grandparents along Tunitas Creek Road when a cougar attacked him near his family’s farm, Potrero Nuevo. The mountain lion was given a drink and the family suspects that Jack scared him

The child is currently recovering from the attack at his home with his family and is expected to make a full recovery.

“Suzie is a very strong mother and she’s a hero,” Wagner told The Chronicle. “Obviously it’s been traumatic, but I think she’s ready to focus on the positive, knowing how much worse it could have been.”

Captain Patrick Foy of the Department of Fish and Wildlife agreed, saying: ‘The attack was very, very vicious in nature. Everything indicates that (the mother) saved her son’s life.’

Authorities are still looking for the mountain lion and have collected DNA from Jack’s wounds to find him.

Authorities took the animal’s DNA samples from Jack’s wounds to help locate the animal, but the mountain lion is currently still running wild

It was the second incident in California in less than a year after a seven-year-old boy was hospitalized after being bitten by a lion near Los Angeles.

If the animal is captured, “it will not be released back into the wild,” Foy said, but did not elaborate on the exact plans for the young mountain lion.

“People often ask us to just take (mountain lions) and release them into the middle of nowhere, but the location where this attack happened has been described as the middle of nowhere,” Foy told the Chronicle. .

It was California’s second incident in less than a year and comes after a seven-year-old boy was hospitalized after being bitten by a lion near Los Angeles.

Mountain lion sightings are common, but attacks are not. About 20 confirmed attacks have occurred in California in more than a century, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“If you are attacked, fight back. That’s probably the most important thing for people to understand. It’s not something where you play dead. You have to fight for your life,’ said Foy.