A Santa Clarita woman is sharing her experience of the tense moments when a mountain lion attacked a 7-year-old child at Pico Canyon Park Monday evening.

Lindsey Pond and her husband were casually exercising on the stairs at Pico Canyon Park Monday, when they encountered a mountain lion, one of California’s predators that will make them think twice about being at the park when it is dark.

“My husband and I were running the stairs,” Pond said. “It was dark at the time and we were the last ones on the stairs.”

While Pond and her husband were headed up the stairs, a family of three came down with their approximately 7-year-old son leading the way, Pond recalled.

“Their son ran ahead and then started screaming, then the dad started to scream,” Pond said.

Due to the family primarily speaking Spanish, Pond and her husband were not able to understand what was being said, but knew they were in trouble.

“We started walking back towards them, and they started walking towards us, frantically. Then I saw the eyes of the animal, not sure what it was but they were screaming ‘mountain lion.’ But all I saw were glowing eyes and a dark figure,” Pond said.

Pond and her husband helped the family down to the street, all while keeping an eye on the wildcat, which lingered after attacking the child.

“My husband watched the animal as we were walking out, we didn’t want it to chase after us,” Pond said. “When we got close to the street, we pulled down the child’s pants and saw one tooth mark on his bottom, not gushing blood but it was bloody.”

The child was taken to the hospital by his parents, and 911 was not called.

While the stairs are a frequent place for Pond to go, this incident is making her think twice about returning at night.

“I’ve gone to the stairs several times, but I’m not going in the dark again,” Pond said.

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