Fact Check

Mountain Lyin'

Published Aug. 10, 2015

Claim:

Origin

FACT CHECK:   Was baseball player Adam LaRoche attacked by a mountain lion?

Claim:   Baseball player Adam LaRoche was attacked by a mountain lion.

   FALSE

Example:     [Collected via email, August 2015]

Was adam laroche attacked by a mountain lion? It is being posted that he was attacked by a mountain lion 2 weeks after killing one on a trip - I cannot find any proof of said attack

Origins:    In August 2015, an image purportedly showing baseball player Adam LaRoche in a hospital after being attacked by a mountain lion started recirculating on Facebook.

The image was originally created in response to a photograph of LaRoche with a dead mountain lion over his shoulders:

adam laroche

While it's true that LaRoche killed a mountain lion during a bow hunt in 2014, the lioness did not "get revenge" on the baseball player.

It's true that the photograph at the top of this article shows a victim of a mountain lion attack, but the man pictured is not baseball player Adam LaRoche. The image actually shows Jim Hamm, a hiker who was attacked by a mountain lion at Prairie Creek Redwords State Park in California in January 2007.

Last updated:      10 August 2015

Originally published:    10 August 2015

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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