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9-year-old girl hospitalized after cougar attack in Stevens County

A 9-year-old girl was injured by a cougar in near Fruitland, in Stevens County, on Saturday morning. She was taken to a hospital and her condition has not been released. The animal was killed on scene. The cougar in this image was photographed in Yellowstone National Park in 2019. (Courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service)
By Garrett Cabeza garrettc@spokesman.com(509) 459-5135

A cougar attacked a 9-year-old girl attending a camp Saturday morning near Fruitland in Stevens County.

The girl was injured and taken to a hospital, according to an email from Staci Lehman, communications manager at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The girl’s condition was unclear Saturday afternoon.

The cougar was killed at the scene, Lehman wrote. WDFW is investigating the incident.

Cougar attacks on humans are extremely rare, according to the state agency. The first cougar attack in Washington that resulted in a human death was reported in 1924. Since then, state authorities recorded 20 other cougar-human encounters that resulted in a documented injury, including a second fatal attack in 2018 roughly 30 miles east of Seattle.