'She was able to pry the cat's jaws open': Hero mom saves son from mountain lion

'Had it been a 110-pound lion - which I've seen around here - this would have been a much different story.'

Imagine your two young sons are playing happily in the yard. You excuse yourself for a moment to use the restroom or grab a toy then return to find a mountain lion has your 5-year-old's head in its mouth.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The terrifying situation is one most parents could never fathom, yet one Colorado woman heard her son screaming. By the time she reached the front yard, a lion had already pinned her 5-year-old son to the ground and had his head in its mouth.

Pitkin County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Buglione told The Aspen Times

Buglione said, "She was able to pry the cat's jaws open. She's a hero."

The boy was flown to a Denver hospital and suffered deep cuts in his head, face and neck. His mother also suffered several scratch and bite wounds but both survived the ordeal.

Buglione told The Aspen Times he spoke with the boy's father after the boy's admittance to Aspen Valley Hospital.

In the family's scramble to get the boy and his mother to help, they sped straight to the hospital and passed officers Bulgione and his partner. The officers gave chase and discovered the boy had a "very deep laceration" on his right cheek, saw his right eye was swollen shut and part of his scalp at the top of his head was pulled back.

Though the description sounds horrific, Buglione didn't think the injuries were life-threatening.

"He was awake and talking to his mother," Bulione explained. When the officer had a change to speak to the boy's mother, she explained she was indoors when the sounds of screaming caused her to rush to the front yard.

The eldest of her two boys met her and claimed a fox had attacked the younger boy, but when she saw the situation, she was shocked to discover a mountain lion hunched over his tiny body.

She ran to the lion, pulled it's paws from her son and realized his head was in its mouth. In an act that can only be described as the power of a mother desperate to save her son's life, she reached into the lion's mouth, pried its jaws open, scooped up her child and ran.

Luckily, the cat did not give chase.

The mother had injuries to her hands and legs but Aspen Valley Hospital released her in good condition, Ginny Dyche, a hospital spokeswoman, stated.

After talking to both parents, Buglione and another deputy met a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer at the scene of the attack and together discovered the cat under the tree the father described.

It sat among a cluster of debris of toys, bicycles and a wheelbarrow.

When the men discovered the mountain lion, they were standing 10 to 12 feet from it and it was completely still and silent.

"At the time, the assumption was it was sick or injured and needed to be put down," Buglione said.

The Forest Service officer pulled out a shotgun and put the lion down then the deputies helped pack the body in a bag for Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials, who will run a series of tests, including a rabies and plague test.

Prior to the attack, officials received a report of a mountain lion sighting and witnesses reported two lions in the area.

Both are believed to be 8 to 9-months-old and were also put down. Tests on the younger lions are also set to be conducted soon.

Meanwhile, the lion responsible for the attack was not large for its kind. "It wasn't a big cat," Buglione told Daily Mail. "Had it been a 110-pound-lion - which I've seen around here - this would have been a much different story."

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