A six-year-old boy is recovering with 17 stitches in his face after being snatched out of his mother's arms by a mountain lion.
Rivers Hobbs was saved after his father Jason Hobbs leapt on the big cat's back and stabbed it in the chest with a pocket knife, Fox News reports.
The mountain lion attacked as the Hobbs family, from Leander in the US state of Texas, was returning to the Texas Big Bend National Park's main lodge after a walk on Sunday.
"It sneaked up on me," Rivers said.
Rivers' mother Kristi Harris said the family had planned on going camping but changed their mind after being told the cat had attacked another family earlier in the day.
Ms Harris said the cat pulled her son from her arms.
"I still had him by the hand for a good while and then the animal gave a huge jerk and pulled him to the ground and took him by the face," Ms Harris said.
That is when Rivers' father leapt into action.
"The cat was clamped onto his face. I reached down and got my pocket knife out and stabbed the cat in the chest and it let go at that point," Mr Hobbs said.
Rivers sustained a gash on the right side of his face and will have to receive a series of rabies injections.
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