Texas boy survives mountain lion attack

A 6-year-old Texas boy is recovering after being attacked by a mountain lion while walking with his family in Big Bend National Park, officials say. Park officials said River Hobbs of Leander suffered non-life-threatening scrapes and puncture wounds to his face in the Sunday attack, the Houston Chronicle reported. He was treated and released from an Alpine hospital. The boy told Odessa's KOSA-TV the big cat "snuck up on me." His father Jason told the TV station the family was on a sidewalk between a restaurant and hotel when the mountain lion struck. "It had a hold of his face ... . the cat was clamped on his face," the father said. "I reached down and got my knife out and stabbed the cat in the chest and it let go at that point. "Were lucky he's walking away with scars and it didn't get him by the neck." The Chronicle said the park service closed several trails and brought in dog teams to track down the big cat but had no luck finding it. Live traps were also set. "From the description, it's small and haggard-looking," park spokesman David Elkowitz said. "It would appear to be a young lion." The newspaper said it was believed to be the second reported sighting of the lion that day, with another family reporting a mountain lion approached it in a campground and grabbed a backpack it later abandoned.