[pct-l] Pct-L Digest, Vol 67, Issue 10

[bhuss]

As the population increases, and more people push out into areas that 
have had historically
little human traffic, there have been more sightings. Even along the 
heavily populated areas
animals such as mountain lions, bobcats, and bear sightings have become 
frequent. People
living in the foothills next to the sprawl of cities making up the LA 
Basin have reported contacts.
There have been mountain lion sightings in San Diego and Riverside 
Counties along the PCT by
several people this year. I read that they found 3 dead mountain lions 
from the Mountain
Fire in the Idyllwild area last week.

Wildlife have corridors along side of us and just because we do not see 
them, doesn't mean
that they are not nearby. I live pretty much on the San Diego and 
Riverside County line next
to the I 15. Just to the north of me there have been various agencies 
and schools studying
animal movement in the past few years. They have captured photos of 
foxes, raccoons,
weasels, bobcats, deer, skunks, coyotes, etc, but no mountain lions. 
There are two cities
with 200,000+ people a mile to the north of there.

On the other hand, 3 miles south I have seen mountain lions numerous 
times on my driveway,
in the large nursery that is below my property in the valley,  on my and 
my neighbor's land.
I watched one jump a fence into the nursery, at dusk last month, when I 
was coming up my road
toward home. There is no mistaking the size and length of tail. I've had 
quite a few sightings
over the years I've lived here. Once I saw a female with 2 cubs. In 
particular I saw the same
one 3 or 4 times over the period of a year. It had a tuft on the end of 
it's tail, like a lion, that
made it recognizable. Last Friday there was a bobcat laying in my front 
yard by a car. Yes, they
do run off when they realize that humans are near. Sometimes one will 
leap fences across my
neighbor's land, and come back out in front of my car where my drive 
loops back, then leap into
the brush. I am always in awe of their beauty.

What's the point here? There are wild animals nearby and when we go out 
into their habitat
we will see mountain lions and other animals. I believe that there were 
sightings last year in
the area that Muk Muk was camping in.  She was sitting on her pad and 
sleeping bag when the
lion approached, she may have looked like prey? It's hard to say. That 
was a horrid experience
for her and truly terrifying. People do need to be careful and perhaps 
have a hiking partner
when we are further from populated areas.

Bl Huss

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Dan Jacobs"<youroldpaldan at gmail.com>
> Date: Jul 20, 2013 5:56 PM
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Mountain Lion Encounter
>
> Mountain lions and cougars are solitary animals, and normally avoid humans.
> When I was working in the woods, we assumed that all cougar sightings or
> encounters were nearly all fake. Folks I know that have truly seen a cougar
> worked or recreated in the woods for decades and maybe saw one or two,
> which ran away at top speed as soon as they realized humans could see them.
>
> That being said, I do not discount the fear and concern of Muk Muk, as
> there can always be a statistical outlier. I wasn't there, so I won't
> comment on this particular encounter. If pressing the 911 button on her
> SPOT messenge rand the men that came that morning made her feel better,
> than it was the right thing for her to do. Any costs, or if it was a waste
> of resources, is now between her and the responding groups and/or agencies.
>
> My own most recent cougar encounter a few years ago confirms that normally
> they want nothing to do with us. This cougar had just killed a neighbor's
> chicken, saw me coming, and took off to a safe distance to look back. It
> then squatted to urinate, and took off again into the woods and
> disappeared. My first cougar encounter in the 1990's was a biologist
> tracking a collared cougar. It ran within a few yards of us working in a
> creek , and really lit the afterburners once it realized we were there.
> About a half hour later, a CA fish and game uniformed man came by with a
> radio collar tracking setup asking if we saw a big cat go by.
>
> Fear is a very primal thing, especially when in fear of attack from a wild
> animal. I work hard to suppress mine when it comes up. It can be difficult.
> That is why I don't second guess other's fear in this kind of situation.
> She was genuinely very afraid, and unless you are in the exact same kind of
> situation, it's not right to judge her or her actions.
>
> Dan