TL;DR
Get emergency and outdoor gear delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
An Outdoor Life account published Oct. 3, 2026, recounts a March 23, 1986, mountain lion attack on five-year-old Laura Small at Caspers Wilderness Park in Southern California. The supplied account describes Gregory Ysais confronting the animal and her father, Don Small, joining the effort; it does not include the outcome of the rescue or the child’s injuries.
A five-year-old girl was seized by a mountain lion during a family hike at Southern California’s Caspers Wilderness Park on March 23, 1986, according to a historical account published by Outdoor Life on Oct. 3, 2026. The account says a nearby hiker, Gregory Ysais, found the cougar holding Laura Small in brush and tried to drive it away; the supplied report excerpt ends before establishing the rescue’s outcome or the girl’s condition.
The family was visiting the 7,500-acre Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles in the Santa Ana Mountains. Don Small, then 39, continued along the trail with his nine-year-old son, David, while his wife, Susan Mattern-Small, and Laura stayed near a stream. According to Outdoor Life, the cat had approached the area more than once before the attack.
Susan saw movement and initially thought a large dog was running toward them. She then saw the cougar take Laura and disappear into dense vegetation. She called for help, and Don ran back. The report says he chose to search upstream, while Susan later heard Laura’s moaning and spotted the animal holding the child by the neck in the brush.
Ysais, a 36-year-old electronics technician who was hiking nearby with his wife and daughter, ran toward the calls. Outdoor Life says he followed a visible drag trail, forced his way through prickly pear cactus, and confronted the cougar at close range with a broken tree limb, yelling and poking toward its eyes. The excerpt ends as the animal begins to turn with Laura, before it describes what happened next.
A Rescue Attempt in Dense Brush
The account describes how quickly a family outing became an emergency and how nearby hikers responded before the parents could locate the child. Ysais’s intervention brought him within a short distance of a cougar that still had Laura, while Don was also moving through the brush. The episode’s immediate stakes were the child’s safety and the risk to people confronting a large wild animal.
The story is also framed by its title as occurring in the aftermath of California’s mountain lion hunting ban. But the excerpt supplied does not explain the ban’s rules, its relationship to this particular animal, or whether the cougar had any prior history of approaching people. The attack alone does not establish a cause or show that hunting policy led to it.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
The Family’s 1986 Hike
The attack took place on Palm Sunday, March 23, 1986, during a hike at a stream pool. Outdoor Life describes Laura and Susan searching the water for tadpoles while Don and David went farther along the trail. In the account, the mountain lion had emerged from nearby undergrowth after hearing sounds near the stream, then returned to cover before coming out again.
The article presents the episode as a historical animal-attack account, not as breaking news about a recent incident. Its publication date is Oct. 3, 2026. The supplied material does not provide records from authorities, medical updates, or further reporting that would independently confirm details beyond the narrative attributed to Outdoor Life.
“Don, a mountain lion has Laura, and I don’t know where it went!”
— Susan Small, as quoted in the Outdoor Life account
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
The Account’s Missing Outcome
The supplied excerpt ends before confirming whether Ysais or Don drove the cougar off, how Laura was freed, or what injuries she sustained. It also does not say whether wildlife officials later located the animal or describe any investigation. Those details cannot be established from the material provided.
The report’s title links the story to California’s mountain lion hunting ban, but the excerpt does not substantiate a causal connection between the ban and the attack. It gives no information about the cougar’s prior behavior, the applicable policy details, or evidence that the animal had become accustomed to people.
wildlife encounter protection gear
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Further Details Needed
The next step for a fuller account would be to consult the complete Outdoor Life article and any available contemporaneous records from park or wildlife officials. Those sources could clarify the rescue, Laura’s condition, what happened to the cougar, and the circumstances surrounding the response. Until those details are available, the confirmed scope here is the attack narrative and the intervention described in the supplied excerpt.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
When and where did the attack happen?
According to Outdoor Life, it happened on March 23, 1986, at Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park in the Santa Ana Mountains, southeast of Los Angeles.
Who intervened after the cougar took Laura?
The account identifies Gregory Ysais, a nearby hiker, as the first person to confront the cougar in the brush. Don Small was also searching for the animal.
Did Laura survive, and what injuries did she have?
The supplied excerpt does not give the rescue’s outcome or Laura’s medical condition, so those details cannot be confirmed from this material.
Was the attack caused by California’s hunting ban?
The source title places the story after the ban, but the provided account does not show that the policy caused the attack or explain whether it affected this cougar.
Source: rss
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
