Free Republic

A 21-year-old man is dead and his 18-year-old brother was injured after a mountain lion reportedly attacked them in northern California on Saturday afternoon. The attack happened shortly after 1 p.m. in Georgetown, about 50 miles northeast of Sacramento, according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. The 18-year-old was able to call for help after being attacked while hunting for shed antlers with his brother. The sheriff’s office said crews found he had suffered traumatic injuries to his face. The 18-year-old had also become separated from his brother, whom emergency crews immediately began searching for when they arrived.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the date of the event.Officials with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Malibu announced the temporary closure of Solstice Canyon after a young mountain lion attempted to attack a small, leashed dog walking with its owner. The encounter, according to officials, happened Tuesday morning. While intervening to protect his dog, the hiker suffered a puncture wound and a scratch on his hand. The dog was uninjured. “A scratch basically, just minor injuries,” Seth Riley, the wildlife branch chief for the US National Park Service, told LAist. “He was able to...

Hunters usually hate it when they become the hunted. This is what happened to Dylan Ross from Colorado. Most of the time mountain lions are like the dark shadows lurking from beyond. But in this rare instances, this mountain lion attacked Dylan. Dylan was working a particular area for deer when he encountered this mountain lion within 5 yards. Here’s his excerpt from his FB page. “Words can’t even describe my hunting experience yesterday. I was and hour over a vertical mountain before it got light. I got to the other side and was sneaking through the timber then suddenly...

Shocking video shows a pet dog named Holly Jolly getting attacked by a mountain lion in his California yard — then fighting back to somehow live another day. The 3-year-old schnauzer is seen on Ring camera footage casually stepping out for a bathroom break in La Verne, CA around 9 p.m. Feb. 10 when the cougar suddenly appears.

A cougar attacked a man at a ski resort Sunday outside of Beaver Mountain, Utah, but he was able to fight it off with a snowboard. Charlie Duffy was walking outside of resort boundaries with his snowboard when he noticed big cat paw prints in the snow, KSL reported. Moments later, unnerved by the paw prints, he looked over his shoulder to see the mountain lion five or six feet away from him. The cat then pounced ,... “My fight response instantly kicked in and I grabbed my board in my right hand and swung with full force at the...

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials encourage safety precautions as lions remain in the area ... This story has been updated with information about the fate of the mountain lion involved in the second mountain lion attack in Grand Lake. A rash of recent mountain lion attacks have resulted in the deaths of at least one dog and 15 cats, and Grand County residents remain on edge because lions are still in this area. The first attacks on cats began in Kremmling, at the home of Sami and Shawn Lechman during the week of Jan. 15. On Jan. 19., a mountain...

DENVER — Former Denver Broncos defensive lineman Derek Wolfe posted on his Instagram account Thursday that he had killed a large mountain lion “wreaking havoc” in a rural Colorado neighborhood. Labeling the kill “predator control,” Wolfe said he stalked and killed the big cat that had already killed two dogs and was living under the porch of a resident in the undisclosed neighborhood.

Mountain lions chewed and clawed a bloody swath through the pet population of a small Colorado community last year, killing as many as 15 dogs in about a month. It’s not a scenario likely to be repeated in Wyoming, where mountain lions attacking dogs are rare, but not unheard of. A Cody couple in 2017 shot a mountain lion to death after it tried to get their dog. Residents around Nederland, a small community in rural Boulder County, Colorado, claim to have lost 23 dogs to mountain lions last year. They report the situation reached a horrific climax toward the...

Some Sonoma County, California residents are concerned about mountain lions after one lion entered a house, attacked a dog, and dragged the dog by its neck into the backyard, KTLA sister station KRON reports. The attack happened last week when a Bennett Valley resident left her sliding glass door open. The cougar targeted a border collie inside the house and the homeowners heard a commotion. Video sent to KRON shows a snarling mountain lion standing over a motionless dog. “A neighbor came over and fired a shot in the air,” neighbor Ron Crane said. The dog was eventually rescued and...

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — Wildlife officers on Wednesday were tracking a mountain lion that attacked a 7-year-old boy and prompted the closure of a sprawling Southern California park, authorities said. The child and his father were walking up stairs at Pico Canyon Park near Santa Clarita around dusk on Monday when a cougar emerged from brush and bit the boy on the buttocks, said Capt. Patrick Foy with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Foy said the father, who was walking behind, heard his son cry out and charged toward the big cat. “The lion let go and retreated...

The town of Woodside in San Mateo County has found a way to thwart new housing development: invoking the supposed endangerment of mountain lions. Woodside, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau has a median household income of more than $250,000, has blocked any new development under Senate Bill 9 under a clause in the bill prohibiting development in the habitat of an endangered species. SB 9 was an attempt to encourage more housing development in established neighborhoods by allowing property owners to split large lots and bypass public hearings. Advertisement “We love animals,” Mayor Dick Brown told The Almanac....

It appears some mountain lions appear quite comfortable at a home in Rapid City, South Dakota. According to Annie Mueller, who lives at the home, the mountain lions visited at approximately 6 a.m., 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Tuesday, and returned at 7 a.m. on Wednesday. Security camera video from Tuesday morning even shows one of the cougars checking out Mueller’s front door before climbing up on a bench. Historically, mountain lions have lived throughout South Dakota, with many located in the Black Hills, according to the state’s Game, Fish and Parks department. Their population declined in the 1900s...

Video sent to KSBW 8 by a viewer shows a mountain lion with three cubs in tow. The video was recorded with a trail cam in east Carmel Valley, near Cachagua Road. The viewer said she thinks the video was taken at the end of February.

Did you know that mountain lions can fly? Well, not quite, but they come pretty darn close with the ability to jump nearly 20 feet straight up in the air! It's not often that you see an airborne big cat, but that's exactly what was captured on this trail camera in Colorado. “Absolutely terrifying," one Facebook user said in response to the photograph. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) says that these fascinating animals are incredibly strong and fast, running as fast as 45 miles per hour and jumping as high as 19 feet straight up in the air. These cats...

A mountain lion cub that was seen roaming the streets of downtown San Francisco before being captured Thursday may have killed several marsupials at the city zoo, officials said. The 50-pound male cougar, believed to be less than 2 years old, was examined at the Oakland Zoo before California Fish and Wildlife officials released it at a wilderness preserve. But on Friday, the San Francisco Zoo revealed that three marsupials were found dead earlier in the week week at their outdoor enclosures. In a statement to KTVU, the zoo said findings suggest the deaths of two wallaroos and a red...

BAILEY, Colo.- The search for a mountain lion continues after it attacked an 8-year-old boy in Bailey Wednesday night. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says the child was playing on a trampoline in his yard when he heard a friend calling from down the street. As he ran towards his friend's home, the mountain lion pounced, grabbing the boy by the head. The boy's brother was also outside and heard a commotion. He ran to his father and told him something didn't sound right. His father rushed down the street and found the mountain lion on top of his son. The...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A mountain lion was recently spotted on video from a doorbell camera in northern California over the weekend. The big cat was spotted Sunday morning in Natomas, a small neighborhood just north of Sacramento. Police warned everyone in the neighborhood to stay inside as they tracked it down. The 100-lb mountain lion roamed from backyard to backyard before officials were finally able to tranquilize it. The wildlife team took the cat and will release it back into the wild. Thankfully, no injuries were reported.

The mountain lion a Colorado runner claimed to have killed in January was a young kitten, according to wildlife officials. Travis Kauffman, 31, strangled and bludgeoned the cat to death on Feb. 4 at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space in Larimer County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a necropsy report published by Fox affiliate KDVR. The mountain lion was determined to be around 3 to 4 months old and weighed 24 pounds at the time of its necropsy. The animal was scavenged after its death. Kauffman told reporters earlier this month that he engaged in what was "just like a...

In recent days, residents have stumbled upon several animal carcasses and at least two attacks on dogs have been reported. The recent increase in mountain lion sightings prompted officials with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to alert the Edwards-area to be on high alert."This is a troubling situation and we are very concerned for the safety and welfare of the people in this area," CPW Northwest Regional Manager JT Romatzke said in an online statement Thursday. "We ask everyone to take this warning seriously." The CPW encouraged locals who spot a big cat in a residential area to alert them immediately and to...

This Colorado man fought an Attacking Mountain Lion with his bare hands (Foot) and survived! The 31-year-old runner told reporters that he ran up a nature trail earlier this month near Fort Collins and made his way to the top to take in the sights. But on his way down, he said, he ran into some ice on the trail, so he took a detour and hopped on West Ridge Trail at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, a 2,700-acre park known for its hiking, biking and horseback riding trails. Moments later, he said, he heard pine needles rustle behind him. Then...