Cougar attack kills man (Orange Co, CA) UPDATE

The Orange County Register ^ | Friday, January, 9, 2004 | BILL RAMS, JIM RADCLIFFE, JIM FINKLE and TONY SAAVEDRA

[TheDon]

The "Great Circle of Life".

[Tijeras_Slim]

Coug, if you needed a couple of bucks for lunch why didn't you see me?

[VadeRetro]

WRONG.

How so?

Mountain lions, like lions in Africa, ACQUIRED a fear of humans AS A RESULT of hunting. When hunting stopped, they gradually reverted to considering humans an acceptable and harmless prey item.

Which contradicts me how? I merely report popular attitudes which have contributed to the current situation.

[CougarGA7]

What was I to do? He ran over my tail!

[Redcloak]

There was a time when mountain lions saw us as extremely dangerous animals; now, after a few too many Disney movies, we're lunch.

Hmmm... Perhaps if the cyclists had only hummed a few bars of Hakuna Matata.

[Manic_Episode]

It's too bad these folks didn't exercise their God given, constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms, then they could be in jail right now.

[D Rider]

Yeah, 13 attacks and 5 fatalities in 114 years in one of the most populous states in the union. What a threat.

There were no recorded attacks or confrontations between 1909 and March of 1986. There were 19 documented attacks or confrontations between 1986 and this one. Using the 114 years thing is kind of misleading. You might as well talk about the recorded number of attacks since the birth of Christ.

As the cat population continues to grow unmanaged, we can expect hungry cats to gravitate to theeasiest and most abundant food source... pets and people.

[BillF]

A gun could also help with rabid raccoons and foxes. That is the more significant danger in wild areas around northern VA.

[ZULU]

Sorry. Guess I misinterpreted you.

Popular opinions are obviously wrong on this subject.

[D Rider]

To close the circle on the 114 year thing, I should mention that the one recorded incident prior to 1909 was in 1890, and it was a death.

[BillF]

Black bear attacks are the most common predatory attacks

You mean that the real bears aren't like the lovable ones that are in cartoons? Next, you'll question the existence of Santa Claus. :)

[TheDon]

Friday, January, 9, 2004
Dead cyclist identified
Autopsy results pending on Foothill Ranch man authorities believe was killed by a mountain lion.

By JOHN McDONALD
The Orange County Register


The bicycle rider killed in the vicinity of a mountain lion attack Thursday afternoon was identified today as Mark Jeffrey Reynolds, 35, of Foothill Ranch, the Orange County Coroner’s office reported.

A 110-pound mountain lion that authorities believe killed Reynolds and mauled a woman mountain biker was shot dead in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park late Thursday.

A second mountain lion was killed Thursday when hit by a car, officials reported.

Reynolds’ body was found near where the woman cyclist was attacked but an autopsy has yet to be performed to determine the cause of his death. Tests were also being done on both lions killed to determine if one of them killed Reynolds.

Reynolds was an account executive with OMS Sports in Anaheim.

The injured woman was hospitalized after her riding companion and other bikers drove off the lion.

[Alberta's Child]

This may sound utterly ridiculous (so go ahead and laugh!), but large predatory cats are so tuned to stalking prey from behind that wearing a Halloween mask facing backwards on your head may actually be the most effective method for warding off a potential attack.

[B Knotts]

This is the result of the voter-approved bans, in West Coast states, of hunting cougars with dogs.

The attacks will increase until the voters have the collective sense to repeal these stupid, stupid laws.

[VadeRetro]

Might as well mention that people population growth is feeding the increasing conflict as much as anything else. It's absolutely exploded in California.

[TheDon]

Friday, January, 9, 2004
Mountain lion acting abnormally, officials say
It was killed Thursday in accord with Fish and Game Department policy after attacking people in Whiting Ranch Park.

By PAT BRENNAN
The Orange County Register


A mountain lion shot and killed Thursday night after attacking people in Whiting Ranch Park was behaving abnormally, state Fish and Game Department officials said – the same opinion they rendered about another lion killed in October after stalking people in San Juan Capistrano.

The lion shot Thursday night is apparently the same one that attacked a woman and was believed to have killed a man earlier that day.

In both cases, the policy of state Fish and Game was clear and applied: Lions that harm or threaten humans are tracked down and killed.

"There are times when the animal loses," said Fish and Game assistant chief Steve Edinger. "This is one."

Fish and Game officials took no action last week when a mountain lion killed a pet goat in Modjeska Canyon; they did not know Thursday night if that was the same lion.

The Modjeska cougar had shown no aggressiveness toward people, and that is the difference between a lion allowed to go on its way and one that is hunted down and killed, Fish and Game officials say.

Cougar sightings are not uncommon in the canyons and wilderness parks on the fringes of the Santa Ana Mountains; the mountains are home to an estimated 20 cougars. And until Thursday night, a fatal cougar attack on a bicyclist was unheard of.

David Baron, author of "The Beast in the Garden," about mountain lion attacks, says researchers in Colorado believe cougar behavior may be changing – the result of increasingly close proximity to people, as their former habitat is converted for human uses. Plus, there has been less hunting of cougars, causing some to lose their historic fear of humans. Recreational mountain lion hunting is banned in California.

Attacks on humans, though still extremely rare, have been rising nationwide since the early '90s, he said.

"It's abnormal in the sense of 'not typical,' " Baron said Thursday after learning of the Orange County attack. "But abnormal seems to imply there's something wrong with the cat, that it's deranged or sick. "I don't know if that's the case here. But mountain lions are responding to the environment we've created."

[Jaxter]

Capitals Since Jan 9, 2004

Troll alert! Stand by Viking Mountain Kitties.

[VadeRetro]

David Baron, author of "The Beast in the Garden," about mountain lion attacks, says researchers in Colorado believe cougar behavior may be changing – the result of increasingly close proximity to people, as their former habitat is converted for human uses.

There you go, yes. I'm sure the Greenies would say the answer is intelligent management of the human population.

[TheDon]

Friday, January, 9, 2004
Residents of canyons say lions are part of rural life
Residents react to the mountain lion attack that happened on Thursday at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park.

By RITA FREEMAN
The Orange County Register


June Miller was cleaning up from the holidays when she heard the report on the 4 p.m. news – someone had been attacked by a mountain lion just across the two-lane highway from her home. The report was brief, but Miller remembered being surprised: "Gosh, when you live in a place like this ... it's something you don't want to believe," she said. Miller and her husband Harry, both 77, live on two acres off Santiago Canyon Road, a stone's throw from where mountain lion attacks left one person dead and another hospitalized. They've come across coyotes, deer and bobcats; just to be safe, in fact, June Miller doesn't venture past the mailbox after dark, 30 yards from the house. The Millers and other residents in the community adjacent to Whiting Ranch listened late into Thursday night as helicopters hovered above their homes, some with spotlights seeking out the lion – shot dead by authorities – others beaming the scene into their bedrooms. Although residents called the attack a tragedy, many said someone hiking or mountain biking through the wilderness should expect to come across such situations.

"We live in a rural area, and we can expect to encounter mountain lions," said Khalil Zadeh, 58, a resident of Falcon View Estate. Though, he admitted, he's "been living here nine years and I have never seen something so close."

Frank Campos, a 20-year Modjeska Grade Road resident, said he just about ran into an animal – he thought it was a mountain lion, but it happened quickly – on Wednesday. It skirted a 16-foot-high brick wall in his yard. Campos said he sees lions at least once a year. His roommate, Victor Hobbs, 70, carries a small handgun when he walks the Whiting Ranch trails. His recommendation to others taking the same path: "Take a walking stick and a loud whistle." A few doors down, Teresa Taylor and her 23 dogs were in for the night. Taylor rescues animals for a living and doesn't take any chances, regularly keeping her charges inside. She was surprised a lion had come so far down the canyon and killed. Her 10-year-old daughter thought otherwise. "I don't think it's a coincidence ," Nicole Taylor said. "They come out here a lot, and since it's winter, there's not a lot of food around."

[D Rider]

Might as well mention that people population growth is feeding the increasing conflict as much as anything else. It's absolutely exploded in California.

Actually, the main problem was when envirus's stop the emergency doe hunts in the 9th circuit back in the 80's. This resulted in a drastic drop in the deer population, which is the lions prefered food source. This initially pushed the cat to the fringe deer population, (the ones that nibble on your shrubs and drink water from street gutters.) After the cat relocations... well, deer may be tastier, but other things are easier.

Truth be told, you should never see a cat. They are ghosts. If you do see one, it is usually sick, injured, or old. These are the dangerous ones, looking for an easy meal.