Mountain Lion Attacks Boy on California Hiking Trail

nbc la ^ | Sep 7, 2014 | Riya Bhattacharjee

[george76]

A 6-year-old boy is in the hospital after being attacked by a mountain lion Sunday afternoon on a hiking trail near a winery in Cupertino

...

A game warden, Travis Jarrett, told NBC Bay Area the boy's parents had to fight off the mountain lion. "The cat did make contact with the boy, did end up taking him into a brushy area, his parents did fight the animal off," he said. "He suffered enough injuries to the point that he was needing immediate medical attention. He had to be immediately hospitalized."

[Dusty Road]

Maybe I failed to mention I've also been handling rattlers at the local roundup's for close to 30 years and have been catching and selling them beyond that. We also have Mojaves here in the Western part of Texas where I live but the Diamondbacks rule the roost. I've been bitten 4 times over all these years and the Mojave from the Big bend area was the least damaging. A big Diamondback does allot of tissue damage unlike the Mohave which also has a neurotoxin.

[Dusty Road]

A Rattlers first line of defense is to rattle and if threatend they’ll do it every time.

[Ditter]

Yikes you have been bitten 4 times and survived! I am glad you are still here.

You are the perfect person to ask this question. I was hunting with MrD. I got down from the tree I was sitting in to walk back to camp. I surprised a rattlesnake coming down the path toward me. He was a small snake, not much over 3 feet. I heard him rattle, buzz was more like it.

Then he jumped up on his tail and started wiggling around. He was totally upright with his tail bouncing around on the ground.
He continued this action until I started shooting.

I know this happens because I have seen an old painting, either Russel or Remington that pictured snakes doing this during some kind of Indian ceremony, but I have never talked to a person who has seen it.

[Domangart]

The dumb asses even included several Western diamond backs in the lot. The LOX delivery guy would complain about having to get them out of the way. The problem is the rattle snakes that keep quiet (I have seen them) have to make you look at the king snakes closer .

[Dusty Road]

Never seen what your describing but I have seen them in the standard s curve defensive position and in the vertical mating dance position where they do get vertical but still have at least 50% of their body laying flat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNXe79MKXQk

[Ditter]

I have seen snakes raise up their heads and part of their body in the preparation for a strike. I have seen pictures of snakes mating like you posted but that is not what I saw that day. I said I heard it rattle but I also heard the snake hiss very loudly. I wish someone had been with me that day so they could have seen it too. I will continue to look through art books for the old western painting that I described to you.

On another subject we knew an old rancher/farmer in Brazoria County whos real name was Dusty Rhoads.