Mountain Lion On Loose After Fatal Attack

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[SoCal Pubbie]

LOS ANGELES -- A mountain lion is reportedly on the loose after attacking and killing a biker in a popular hiking and camping area in South Orange County. Two other bikers were also injured by the "aggressive animal."

The attack took place in the Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in the Cleveland National Forest which is located near Lake Forest, Calif.

A male mountain biker between 20 to 30 years of age was attacked and killed by the mountain lion. When two female bikers came across the man they stopped to try and help him. At that point, the mountain lion, apparently trying to defend it's kill, pounced on one of the women.

The other woman reportedly saved her friend by throwing rocks at the mountain lion and scaring it away. As paramedics tried to help the victims, the animal continued trying to attack. Because paramedics are not armed, Orange County officials sent in an observer to help protect the group. The most seriously injured in the attack was airlifted to a local hospital.

Officials were initially trying to capture the animal, but because it keeps coming back and is described as "very, very aggressive," they are now considering it for termination. The animal is believed to weigh about 150-pounds. Officials had to use their helicopter unit to help chase the animal off. The area is being treated as a crime scene.

Copyright 2004 by NBC4.tv. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Rushmore Rocks]

"Shoot, shovel, and shut up."

Actually, we have done that here in the Black Hills...several times. No PETA, no enviros, no questions.
Problem solved.

[bd476]

Thanks for the notice. It sounds like something great to attend.

[Bernard Marx]

Actually, that's not so far from the truth: Mountain lion attacks began to increase a few years after hunting them was completely banned. When people hunted them with guns, they learned to stay away from people.

When they were hunted with guns there were a whole lot fewer of the damned things. When hunting was made illegal the lion population exploded here in CA, outpacing their normal food supply and making people wearing Spandex and funny hats look appetizing.

[Bernard Marx]

No PETA, no enviros, no questions. Problem solved.

In fact I recall it was almost used on a PETA or some other outfit's member who was spooking fish by throwing rocks into the pool on the trout stream where a friend was trying to present a dry fly. My friend finally had enough, pulled his sidearm and pumped about three shots right at the feet of the Enviro. Realizing he'd brought rocks to a gunfight, the idiot was last seen breaking trail through the tall timber at a full run. Maybe not the recommended solution but it sure as hell worked!

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

No problem. I just happened to have been previously employed as a proofreader - I try to keep as calm as possible when I spot typos in posts ;-).

[elli1]

Another article that I read stated that several people threw rocks & quoted a man as saying that he hit the cat in a head w/ a rock & that is when it left.

[buffyt]

We lived in LA all of 2002. Claremont, actually. Coyotes lived across the road, where there was a wilderness preserve. Odd, since that was right across the street from Claremont Colleges. Saw a dead stray cat one morning, coyote had killed it. Kept my cats INDOORS at all times. Also when we lived in San Marino 1988-1990 I saw a coyote in town one day over on Canterbury Rd.

[XHogPilot]

Additional Info:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040109/D7VVH8380.html
Mountain Lion Badly Injures Calif. Woman
Jan 9, 3:50 PM (ET)
By GREG RISLING

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A mountain lion attacked and severely injured a bicyclist in an Orange County park and may have killed a man whose body was found nearby, authorities said.

The 2-year-old male cat, which weighed about 110 pounds, was later shot and killed, and its body was taken to a laboratory for testing, said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the California Fish and Game Department.

Anne Hjelle had been riding with a friend in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park shortly before dusk Thursday when the mountain lion attacked her, said Orange County Fire Capt. Stephen Miller.

The lion pounced on the 30-year-old's back, grabbed her by her head and began dragging her, said her friend, Debbie Nichols. Nichols said she screamed for help and grabbed Hjelle's legs in a struggle to free her.

"He dragged us down ... about 100 yards into the brush and I just kept screaming," Nichols said. "This guy would not let go. He had a hold of her face."

Other cyclists in the area threw rocks at the animal until it fled.

Hjelle was airlifted to Mission Hospital, where her condition was upgraded to serious early Friday, a nursing supervisor said. She had been listed as critical.

After the attack, the body of Mark Jeffrey Reynolds, 35, of Foothill Ranch was found at the top of a trail near a bicycle. Authorities weren't sure how long he had been there and couldn't confirm if the man was killed by the mountain lion, but Miller said, "it's pretty obvious that an animal was involved." An autopsy was planned Friday.

Authorities said a second mountain lion in the area was hit by a car and killed late Thursday and would also be tested.

Including Thursday's incident, there have been 13 mountain lion attacks on humans in California over the past 114 years, five of them fatal, said Doug Updike, a biologist with the state Fish and Game Department.

Last September, game wardens shot and wounded an aggressive mountain lion spotted near an equestrian center in San Juan Capistrano. The lion was later found and killed, state officials said.

In 1986, 5-year-old Laura Small was attacked while looking for tadpoles with her mother in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park in Orange County. The girl's skull was partially crushed and she was left blind in one eye and paralyzed on her right side.

A 6-year-old boy was mauled in the same park a few months later. County supervisors closed most of the park to children for nearly a decade afterward.

Updike estimates there are between 4,000 and 6,000 adult lions roaming the Golden State, with usually five to seven mountain lions per 100 square miles. State law prohibits hunting or killing them.

[bd476]

It's amazing how many coyote and other wildlife sightings there are in some heavily populated suburbs. I once saw two coyotes lope across a heavily travelled boulevard, and then continue right up to the front entryway of a huge apartment building.

The coyotes were sniffing around the bushes, apparently looking for someone's pet Fluffy or Spot. An Animal Control officer later told me that coyotes will attack and eat any mammal the size of a cocker spaniel and smaller.

Remember the cases of coyotes leaping over backyard fences and snatching a few unattended infants and toddlers? The Animal Control officer told me that despite those tragic incidents, some people are still intentionally leaving out dog food for the coyotes as well as allowing their pets to run loose outside.

[waterstraat]

In all honesty, I'm not sure a gun would have helped that much. The lion leaped on a woman's back, then got a hold of her face.

So, if you were wearing a gun, and a lion grabbed your face, you wouldnt unholster and shoot it while it was dragging you into the woods ?

[SoCal Pubbie]

I would try yes. On the other hand, this particular cat jumped the woman from behind (cats hunt by stealth) first, so with the animal's forelegs wrapped around your arms it might be difficult to reach your weapon. On top of that, pointing the gun behind you and trying to shoot something feverishly trying to kill you might result in a nice clean bullet hole in your back.

I didn't say that having a gun was of no use whatsoever, simply that it may not be of much good by the time a cougar attacks.