Authorities in Northern California are on the hunt for a mountain lion that attacked a 6-year-old boy on a hiking trail near Cupertino in Silicon Valley on Sunday.

The animal attacked the small boy "in an aggressive manner" Sunday afternoon while he was walking along a trail with a group of 10 that included his parents and two other adults and children, reports CBS News.

"Two families were walking together, four adults and six children," Fish and Wildlife Warden Patrick Foy said, according to KTVU-TV. "The boy had gone ahead of the group, about 10 feet, and that's when the lion got him."

Officials say that the mountain cat pounced on the boy from behind and managed to drag him into a brush, before the boy's father and another male in the group ran to his aid.

"It did end up taking him to a brushy area, and his parents did have to fight the animal off," Fish and Wildlife warden Travis Jarrett said.

"The man came down the trail carrying his son," witness Shawn Ardaiz told KTVU. "And it looked like he had a laceration on his neck and was bleeding pretty heavily all over."

Fortunately, the unidentified boy survived the attack and is recovering from puncture wounds and scratches on his head and neck at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. He is reportedly in fair condition.

Following the attack, which was reported around 1:15 p.m., officials closed the hiking trail to search for the animal.

"We know they're up there. We do get some calls about them, but most of the time, it's 'they crossed the road' or 'went by someone's yard,'" said Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup, a spokesman for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, to SFGate.com. "If you live in the hills, you kind of expect that. But I think it's rare to have a mountain lion attack a person, let alone a child. We're going to look into it and figure out why that whole thing happened."

"This is all extremely rare, and we need to find out what provoked the animal to attack," chief park ranger Matt Anderson said. "There's nothing this family could have done differently. It's an isolated incident, definitely, in our park system."