Mountain lion that attacked boy in Santa Cruz Mountains killed by wildlife officials.

After a three-day investigation by experts and tracking dogs, a mountain lion was trapped in a tree and shot and killed by wildlife officials in the eastern edge of the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

The 65-pound lion is believed to be the same one that attacked a six-year-old boy Sept. 7 as he was hiking just 10 feet on front of his family on the Picchetti Ranch Zinfandel Trail just west of San Jose. The boy was treated for serious but non-life threatening puncture wounds and released from the hospital the next day. 

The tracking effort was centered in a one-mile radius from the attack site, and officials finally located the animal this morning 130 yards from the site.

The mountain lion then climbed 70 feet up a tree, and according to a statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, "the cat displayed unusually aggressive behavior while treed, crouching and fixating on a wildlife officer."

A full forensics investigation will be conducted to confirm the identity of the mountain lion. 

Officials say that thought no one in the department wanted to kill the animal, it was ineligible for relocation because it had attacked a human. CDFW’s mountain lion policy is based on a structured decision-making protocol that includes non-lethal and relocation options, but holds public safety paramount in the event of attacks or threats on humans.

An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 mountain lions live in California, and CDFW offers advice for how to avoid conflicts with the wild animals http://www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/lion.html.

UPDATE - 9/15/14 10:30am: Wildlife officials confirmed that forensics tests showed the slain mountain lion to be the same one that attacked the six-year-old boy. Saliva samples taken from the boy’s shirt after the attack were a perfect match to the DNA taken from the lion, officials say, adding that the lion was two-years-old, 74 pounds and healthy.