A camping trip near Rexburg, Idaho turned into a horrifying event for a young family when their little girl was attacked by a mountain lion on Friday, August 12.

"A family was attending a reunion and had lots of small children that were taking part," said Idaho Fish and Game spokesman Greg Losinski. "At one point in the evening a lion that had been seen in the area earlier, decided to try and reach out and grab one of these small children. The lion did so and some of the adults present were able to scream and chase the lion and have it drop the child.

The lion grabbed four-year-old Kelsi Butt and was quickly chased into nearby trees where it was later found by Madison County Sheriff’s Office hound dogs.

"The lion only went a matter of feet with the child, because the family was really close," Losinski said. "As far as the injuries, the child did have multiple scratches and bites, but nothing that required any extensive medical treatment or even stitches. Madison county sheriff's deputies did shoot the animal, and the animal is being treated for rabies, just as a precaution."

The family opted to stay on their camping trip and Kelsi was playing in the same area on Saturday afternoon and doing well. Losinski says that mountain lion attacks are very rare, and only occur a couple of times each year in the western states.

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