By JESSICA LOGAN
The Press-Enterprise

A mountain lion attacked a horse in the La Cresta area west of Murrieta, the second such equestrian attack in the Inland area this week, a state Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist determined Friday.

Julie Brussel said she noticed her yearling Arabian filly Madam had scratches to her head, body and leg when she went to check on her Tuesday. Brussel said the attack must have happened the previous night.

"The baby was just cut to ribbons," Brussel said.

The brown horse was with her mother in an open field at the far end of Brussel's 6-acre property on Vista De Montanas in La Cresta when she was attacked.

Wildlife biologist Kevin Brennan, of the state Department of Fish and Game, confirmed that a mountain lion caused the injuries to the horse in La Cresta. Brennan also confirmed a mountain lion attack on a 24-year-old horse in Cherry Valley earlier this week.

Brennan said mountain lions rarely attack horses, and he has never seen two attacks in one week.

Brussel has been boarding her horses in a sturdy barn near her house since the attack but she said Madam remains nervous.

"They are always going to be close to me now," Brussel said of her three horses.

Brennan issued Brussel a permit to kill the mountain lion following a state law that allows people to kill a wild animal if it destroys their property.

But Brussel said she will try to keep the mountain lion away with floodlights and might shoot into the ground near it to scare it if it returns.

In the past four or five years Brennan has seen one such attack a year.

Another mountain lion killed a goat that belonged to Brussel's neighbor in summer 2007, Brennan said.

Brennan said having two mountain lion attacks in one week was a fluke and said it does not indicate that such incidents are increasing.

He said mountain lions are most likely to attack dogs, sheep and goats in the foothills near the wilderness where mountain lions' habitat and housing developments meet.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_horse28.489c842.html