LIPAN, TX – The Hood County Sheriff's Office and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department are reportedly disagreeing about whether Christopher Whiteley, 28, was killed by a Mountain Lion.
According to ABC8, on Dec. 2, Whiteley went for a walk in the wooded area near the 15000 block of Howell Road. That was the last time anyone saw Whiteley alive.
The following day the Hood County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to Howell Road for the report of a missing person. Callers told the deputies that Whiteley was missing.
The wooded area was searched and Whiteley's body was found. His body was taken to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office and the examiner determined that Whiteley died from a wild animal attack. They said it was possibly a mountain lion.
Although the HCSO and the medical examiner claim that Whiteley died from an animal attack, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department does not agree.
"Texas Game Wardens, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists, and subject matter experts conducted an inspection of the scene. There is not any evidence of a predatory attack by a mountain lion at the location where the victim was found," stated the TPW in a press release. "A US Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services trapper also evaluated the evidence and come to the same conclusion as our staff."https://twitter.com/WilliamJoy/stat…
The HCSO says that they are backing the medical examiner. The examiner ruled out suicide and homicide during the initial autopsy.
Residents are being asked to stay cautious. Mountain Lion attacks are extremely rare. In the past 100 years there are fewer than 30 confirmed deaths due to Mountain Lion attacks nationwide and none in Texas.
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