Updated

State Fish and Wildlife officials say a 5-year-old Canadian boy was hurt when a cougar pounced on him while he and his family were hiking a remote trail in northeastern Washington.

Department spokeswoman Madonna Luers says the big cat jumped the boy while he was hiking Wednesday with his parents and sister on the Abercrombie Mountain trail in the Colville National Forest. She says his mother began beating the cougar with a water bottle and the cat ran off.

Luers says the parents, from Rossland, British Columbia, told wildlife agents the boy was treated and released at a hospital for head wounds and is expected to completely recover.

She says wildlife officials and contract hunters found blood and cougar tracks at the site. She says that when the cat is found it will be killed.