Man was not killed by mountain lion in Hood County, Texas Parks and Wildlife says
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department disagrees with reports that a man was killed by a mountain lion in Hood County, according to a statement released by TPWD on Sunday.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner determined Christopher Allen Whiteley, 28, was “attacked by a wild animal, possibly a mountain lion,” according to a news release from the Hood County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday. Whiteley was last seen in the early morning hours of Wednesday in the 1500 block of Howell Road in Lipan. Deputies checked a nearby wooded area, the sheriff’s office said, and found Whiteley dead.
However, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said it found no evidence of a mountain lion attack in that area, according to a news release Sunday. The TWPD sent its findings to the sheriff’s office Sunday, Lt. Johnny Rose with the Hood County’s sheriff’s department wrote in a separate news release.
The TPWD said Texas Game Wardens, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists, and a United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services trapper investigated the scene and evidence and came to the same conclusion as the TPWD staff. TPWD has no record of a mountain lion attack in Texas or confirmed records of a mountain lion living in Hood County.
“Fatal mountain lion attacks on people are extremely rare,” the TPWD wrote in their investigative report. “In the past 100 years, there are fewer than 30 confirmed deaths due to mountain lion attacks nationwide.”
The recent confirmed sighting of a mountain lion from Rowlett in Dallas County is considered unrelated to this event and is over 100 miles away, TWPD wrote.
The Hood County Sheriff’s department said while “it appears we have two conflicting reports from two agencies that are experts in their field,” the sheriff’s department stands behind the preliminary findings from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office “that rule out a suicide and a homicide on the death in question.”
Hood County officials declined Monday to release a copy of the preliminary autopsy report, saying the case is still under investigation. “The autopsy showed an injury on the neck of puncture injuries consistent with that of a large cat,” Kathryn Gwinn, Hood County Precinct 3 justice of the peace, said in an email.
The sheriff’s department continues to investigate and gather pictures and statements from locals who saw and took photos of mountain lions, the sheriff’s office statement said. The department awaits a final autopsy report.
“Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds always (errs) on the side of caution when it comes to the safety and well-being of the citizens of Hood County and will continue to alert them of any safety issue that may affect them,” the statement from Rose said.
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 5:06 PM.
