Mountain Lion in Your Neighborhood

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/str?guid=20060228/4403d8d0_3ca6_1552620060228672698265

Here's another news story about a mountain lion that strayed into a neighborhood in L.A. Here in the Bay Area, I believe last year and the one before that, we had reports of mountain lions in the neighborhood, but they were shot and killed by police when it was found "at rest." This one was tranquilized.

Just curious and not to get into a debate about killing or tranquilizing the "big cat." How long does it take for the tranquilizer to effect a "put down" with said creature?

Maybe that should have been an alter-native with the previous incidents, other than what had been done. Then again, in those particular scenarios, it was next door to a daycare center and pre-school with children. . .

I live in Missouri and have a lot of woods in back of our house and we see deer almost every night. There are enough reports of sightings in Missouri (some really close to where I live) that it kind of frightens me sometimes because I know they have been known to attack humans. Just another reason to carry a flashlight if im in my yard when its dark.

No Mountain Lion worries here.

They can't compete with all the bears.

this is what ya should do me being a expert in lions at first i thought to dress up as a lion but if ya get a female lions custum that could go wrong in a big way so then i thought about it long and hard and my conclsion is dress up as barney the dinosour or dresss up as marge simpson .either or the main thing is carry a huge boom box playing some eagles tunes or better yet the beegees then ya should chase that lion now this will either work or get ya killed im not sure. but it will make a interesting story

Mountain Lion are more feared where they are not seen as much In my opinion.

If you run across one they usually run but do not act like prey. Running is a bad thing. Puff up and act like the baddest thing it has ever seen. It will usually wonder what you know that it does not but this is not guarantee. Like all living things they do not always follow a 100 percent predictable but usually they have a fear of what is not afraid of them. I hate to see them shot on site but sometimes that is needed.

Gonna have to disagree with you Jon.

When I lived in Placer County California, mountain lion incidents began escalating a couple of years after environmentalists were successful in getting a ballot measure to ban lion hunting.

I was on the Sheriff's department SAR team. We have a 100 mile race from Lake Tahoe to Auburn every year. People train in the hills and mountains around Auburn all the time.

A wonderful young woman athlete, whom I knew, had been running in these and 50 mile races for several years trained as such. Her husband reported her missing one day when she didn't return from her workout.

She was fairly petite...about 105 pounds. We found 47 pounds of her after the lion attack.

There was also an episode on Discover or History (can't recall) a few weeks ago about lion attacks in British Columbia...close to where I live now. They showed two devastating attacks in which full-grown men were viciously attacked from behind and horribly disfigured. All three of these attacks were completely unprovoked with no evidence of cubs in the area.

The over protection has led to overpopulation. Hunger is the prime motivator in animals and mountain lions, when hungry, are vicious and merciless.

I have less than zero sympathy for mountain lions.

running from them is what I understand is the worst thing one can do. I have seen them and they have always run when I lived out west. the only ones we ever heard of being attacked where to people running where they are at.

raggie33 said:

this is what ya should do me being a expert in lions at first i thought to dress up as a lion but if ya get a female lions custum that could go wrong in a big way so then i thought about it long and hard and my conclsion is dress up as barney the dinosour or dresss up as marge simpson .either or the main thing is carry a huge boom box playing some eagles tunes or better yet the beegees then ya should chase that lion now this will either work or get ya killed im not sure. but it will make a interesting story

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RAGGIE: You did it again! That's similar to a co-worker that approached me about his new method of varmint hunting--Something about a stuffed Holstein and a Milkmaid's outfit! I didn't let him talk me into wearing it, though.!

I would imagine safety, carrying the boom box, would depend entirely on the speed with it which it was carried! Maybe you could put another pumpkin (or was that a watermelon?) on your head, and scare hell out of the lion, not to mention the neighbors.

JonSidneyB said:

running from them is what I understand is the worst thing one can do. I have seen them and they have always run when I lived out west. the only ones we ever heard of being attacked where to people running where they are at.

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Yes, you're right Jon. Running seems to be provacative. Sorry if I came across a bit blunt, but that experience changed the way I look at things.

And, the population of lions in the west has increased dramatically in the last 15 years due to restricted hunting and no natural predators.

This might make sence.

I have seen where Lions in Africa behave differently in different places. Areas where humans have guns and will shoot, the Lions have seemed to learn a respect and fear for the power of humans. In other areas the fear is not so great.

I also know deer can be very tame in places there there are no predetors and there is no hunting and where there are predetors or hunters that are very shy and skiddish.

My education on Mt Lion came from being around large ranches where everyone was armed. Perhaps the MtLion around armed ranchers learn a different behavior than in areas were there are few armed people.

the only way a lion would learn to fear a armed human would have to survive being shot - right ?

I am told it is group behaviour. Hmmm, one thing to consider...African Lions are Social, were Mt Lion are not. Perhaps group behavior is not a factor here.

I need to research a bit.

I've heard there are some in my area but I haven't seen them. I see more coyotes and an occasional bobcat though.

My neighbors have also mentioned deer.

ok real advie is comeing the main thing is never sneak up on em so do carry noise perhaps bells on shoes most will avoid noise

Mountain Lions see anything running away as food. Their natural prey runs away, so when a human runs, they see FOOD!

Watch housecats, same principal. They will chase something moving, but if it stops and confronts them, they will back up.

The biggest problem with Mountain Lions is that the young are forced out of their natural home and then into contact with humans. A 65 pound male like the one mentioned could easily take a 105 human from behind.

Mountain Lions, like most cats, kill larger prey in two ways: first by crushing the base of the skull or neck, an especially unprotected area on running humans, or alternatively, by crushing the windpipe. The skull bite is almost instaneously fatal, so in less than 5 seconds from attack to death, humans don't stand much chance.

Mountain Lions don't like to face prey face on, so making yourself big and noisy will usually drive off even a big cat.

BUT...if the cat is REALLY hungry, or disabled by age or injury, all bets are off.

You are still better off fighting back and making noise, though. You CANNOT outrun a Mountain Lion, they can run about twice as fast as the fastest humans, and can leap HUGE distances in a single bound. And running exposes their favorite killing target, the base of the brain and neck!

The other problem is that responding to a bear attack is almost the exact opposite!!

Best behavior, make noise, act big, and be aware.

Now for my almost fatal story. (You knew it was coming, right?)

My two children, ages 8 and 10 at the time, were hiking with my brother in law and his dog in the Cascade Mountains. They were less than 5 miles from town. The dog, a Keeshond, kept stopping and looking back, but never barked or went chasing.

After about a two hour hike, they headed back, only to find BIG lion prints that followed them for almost a mile, wandering in and out of their tracks. The cat would come out of the trees, follow their tracks for a few paces them move back into the trees. They never saw or heard him, and my brother in law is pretty good in the woods. He found where the cat first crossed their path and backtracked him about 200 yards off the trail, but never got a glimpse.

(He hikes with a handgun, and felt pretty confident that the cat wouldn't attack as long as he and the dog were there, or it would have already.)

He was a little worried, because several times the kids had been 10 or 15 yards away while they hiked in, though he always kept them in front of him. (A problem if there were any bears in the area, although I'm sure the kids made enough noise that it didn't matter.)


But, cats can live close to humans, (I have a patient who has had a female raise a litter under the corner of his house, while he has a 120 pound German Shephard mix dog!)

The best rule of thumb: BE CAREFUL in cat country, because cat country can be anywhere!!!

Bill

Last year in Southern California, there was an attack on a popular bike trail. Two women were mountain biking together when one of them was attacked and dragged by her face. Other mountain bikers were in the area and heard the screams, they joined in to help her out. Again, the area was being used by mountain bikers and there were many out that day. One would think there's enough noise, and company to ward off said cat. It didn't deter it one bit!

CHC said:

Last year in Southern California, there was an attack on a popular bike trail. Two women were mountain biking together when one of them was attacked and dragged by her face. Other mountain bikers were in the area and heard the screams, they joined in to help her out. Again, the area was being used by mountain bikers and there were many out that day. One would think there's enough noise, and company to ward off said cat. It didn't deter it one bit!

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And carrying firearms is prohibited anywhere around here, so if you are outdoors and get attacked in California, hope God likes you...

Interesting article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puma "It is more closely related to the common house cat than to the African lion."

I suppose people have to be more careful in the woods and mountains these days. Though I never felt safe hiking by myself. I lived in the city too long. Which I find is a much more dangerous place than the wilderness. I fear homo sapiens more than any of our other large predators.

I've heard that a mountain lion will not attack some one head on. He will sneak up behind you, and get you when you least realize it. I also heard that they have a nasty habbit of hiding in trees and waiting until a prey comes down below it. I'm not sure if any of those things are correct.

My dad is a big mountain biker, he will go out several times a week, usually at night during the weekdays. After the attacks in California a hour or so away from us, mentioned by CHC, my mom go really worried for him.

I've never seen a mountain lion if California before, I've seen tons of coyotes and the rarer bob cat though.

"Last year in Southern California, there was an attack on a popular bike trail. Two women were mountain biking together when one of them was attacked and dragged by her face. Other mountain bikers were in the area and heard the screams, they joined in to help her out. Again, the area was being used by mountain bikers and there were many out that day. One would think there's enough noise, and company to ward off said cat. It didn't deter it one bit!"

Remember, a really hungry, hurt, young or old cat that is having difficulty with normal prey is unpredictable, and may do ANYTHING to feed itself!!

Bill