Update on Mountain Lion Attack

[Lawdog]

Sorry guys it was I that deleted the Mountain Lion attack post.  ALL MY FAULT  :oops:  :oops:  :oops:  :oops: .  Teach me to try to do too many things at the same time.

Siskiyou stated that a survey reported that lions don't move over 100 to 300 meters away from the paths in parks at night(IF I REMEMBER RIGHT!  :oops: Sorry Siskiyou!!  Please correct me if I am wrong, and I may well be).  Why should they when an easy meal comes to you, not much chasing.

markc,

You asked about the number attacks in California, here is a list that goes thru 1998.

List of Mountain Lion Attacks On People in California

This page is a complete, or very nearly complete, list of all
attacks on people in California through 1998. See Mountain
Lion Attacks On People in the U.S. and Canada for an
introduction to this page, bibliography and abbreviation
list. See also the companion page List of Mountain Lion
Attacks On People in the U.S. and Canada not including
California.

Deaths are highlighted in bold text. There were no deaths
in California from lion attacks from 1910 through 1993.

1890
19 June. A 7-year-old boy was killed by two lions while
playing among oak trees some distance from his home
in Quartz Valley, Siskiyou County, California. (OC)

1909
5 July. A rabid lion injured a woman and child in
Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County, California. Both died
of rabies. (OC)

1986
March. A lion attacked a 5-year-old girl, Laura Small, in
Caspers Regional Park, Orange County, resulting in a $2
million court judgment against Orange County. Laura
remains blind in one eye and partially paralyzed. (OCR
9/29/98, OC)

October. A 6-year-old boy, Justin Mellon, received minor
injuries resulting from a lion attack. (OCR 9/29/98, OC)

1988
25 June. Two lions chased a German couple with a small
son in the Green Valley Campground area of Cuyamaca
Rancho State Park. They reported one large lion with a
smaller one. The Game Warden found both together, and
neither moved when he approached. He shot the bigger one
-- an 80-pound male -- first, and the smaller one didn't
move. He then shot that one, a 63-pound male. (SDUT
2/11/96, C14)

1992
12 March. Non-fatal attack on a 9-year-old boy in Gaviota
State Park, Santa Barbara County, California. The boy's
father, brought to the scene by the boys' brothers, "hit the
cougar on the head with a rock, causing the cougar to
retreat." The boy is recovering from the injuries. (MLCSP;
OC; SDUT 4/15/95, A3)

1993
August. A 6-year-old boy was attacked in Los Padres
National Forest, Santa Barbara County, California.
(MLCSP, SDUT 4/15/95, A3)

September. A young cougar bit a 10-year-old girl camping
with her family at Paso Picacho Campground in Cuyamaca
Rancho State Park, California. The girl was slightly injured.
The mountain lion believed to have attacked the girl was
tracked down and killed. (SDUT 12/11/94 A1; MLCSP)

1994
January. Three bicyclists were "menaced" by a mountain
lion at Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. (SDUT 12/11/94, A1)

23 April. Barbara Schoener, 40, a friend of my sister
and a long-distance runner in excellent physical shape,
was killed by an 80-pound female mountain lion in
Northern California on the American River Canyon
trail in the Auburn State Recreation Area. No one
observed the attack, and hence there are conflicting
hypotheses about what occurred.

Barbara's husband Pete Schoener says that the lion was
probably hidden on a ledge above the trail and pounced
on Barbara as she passed underneath the lion. The lion
knocked her down a slope and she was badly wounded,
but she fought the animal with her arms before she was
killed. Then the lion dragged her farther before eating
most of her body.

The accounts in the paper said that investigators
theorize that the lion surprised her by sneaking within
20' behind her on the tight trail and then ambushing
Schoener, knocking her 30' down an 80° slope.
Indications are she already was badly wounded but
briefly fought the animal there before the lion finished
the kill.

The trail is part of the Western States 100-Mile
Endurance Run trail. Barbara was the first person in
California in the 20th Century to die from a mountain
lion attack.

The mountain lion may have been protecting its
one-month-old cub by "defending" its territory against
intruders, or may have "recognized" Barbara as prey
because she was "running away" from the lion.

Barbara Schoener was 5' 11" and 140-150 pounds. (The
papers incorrectly gave 5' 8" and 120 pounds.)

(SDUT 5/8/94, A3; 5/13/94, A3; Pete Schoener, via an
email from my sister Connie Vavricek)

9 May. A couple with a little boy saw a lion approaching at
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. They threw rocks, but it
refused to move away. The Game Warden went to the area
the next day, saw it and shot it. He found the 83-pound
male had been feeding on a fresh deer kill nearby. (SDUT
2/11/96, C14)

16 August. 50-year-old Troy Winslow and his wife Robin,
along with 48-year-old Kathleen Strehl, were camping in
the yard of a rustic cabin near the isolated hamlet of Dos
Rios in Mendocino County, California, when a fight broke
out between their dog and a 2-year-old, 60-pound rabid
female mountain lion at 4:30 a.m. The lion retreated under
the cabin after they threw rocks at it. Near daybreak, the
cougar attacked Kathleen, giving her four puncture wounds
in the arm and knocking her to the ground. The others
jumped on the cat and Robin stabbed it with a 12-inch
kitchen bread knife. The cat bit off Winslow's thumb during
the melee when the man grabbed the animal near its mouth.
(SDUT 8/17/94, A3; OC)

10 December. Iris M. Kenna, a 5-foot-4 and no more
than 115 pounds, 56-year-old woman in excellent
physical condition, was killed near Cuyamaca Peak at
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park while hiking to
Cuyamaca Peak alone in the early morning. She was
attacked near the bench dedicated to her at the
intersection of the Lookout Fire Road and Azalea
Springs Fire Road / Fern Flat Fire Road. (SDUT
12/11/94 A1)

1995
January. A mountain lion charged Michelle Rossmiller, a
17-year-old girl, as she was unloading school books from
her car at her home on Volcan Mountain, San Diego
County. Lisa Rossmiller, her mother, said: She saw it
coming at her, thought fast and closed the door before it
reached her. It was running straight at her. (SDUT 1/28/95,
B3).

20 March. Scott Fike, a 27-year-old cyclist, was bitten and
cut by a cougar near Mount Lowe in the Angeles National
Forest, California, on 20 March 1995, and fought the
cougar off with rocks. The cougar was then tracked down
and killed. (SDUT 3/25/95, A3)

1996
16 January. A woman on horseback at Cuyamaca Rancho
State Park reported an aggressive lion. She likely saved
herself by baring her teeth, growling and staring the lion
down as it approached her. Two Game Wardens and an
Animal Damage Control specialist went to that spot the
next day, and the lion charged them, getting to within 15
feet before the 62-pound male was shot twice. "What
bothered me about this one is the veterinarian said it was a
cub," Game Warden Turner said. "It was a 1 1/2 - to
2-year-old that probably was just booted out by its mother
and was trying to make it on its own." Turner said he'd
never had a lion charge like this one. (SDUT 2/11/96, C14)

1997
28 December. A female cougar charged a group of women
and children at Caspers Regional Park in Orange County,
less than two weeks after the county had lifted restrictions
on minors visiting the park. The cougar was later killed.
(OCR 9/29/98)

1998
August. A woman encountered a cougar near Stonewall
Peak in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, California. She used
pepper spray on an aggressive cougar and finally repelled it
from attacking her and a female friend after a 15-minute
ordeal. (SDUT 10/10/98, B1)

October. Four mountain lions were killed at Los Vaqueros
horse camp in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, California.
That brought the total to 12 mountain lions killed in the
park since 1987. (SDUT 10/10/98, B1)

Just too many Mountain Lions in California.  Lawdog

Again sorry to all those that contributed to the post I deleted.    :oops: [/quote]

[Lawdog]

markc,

If you or anyone else is interested I also have the list of Mountain Lion attacks for the last 30 years in both the U.S. and Canada.  Lawdog

[freddogs]

Seems to be a trend in recent history. Were lions too few before or did they just not record everything? Lawdog, if we were perfect moderators GB couldn't afford to hire us. :lol:

[Lawdog]

Fred,

When the Mountain Lion Preservation Society got the ban on hunting lions passed they used the BIGGEST LIE  :evil: ever to accomplish this.  They actually got the law makers to believe that there were only "9" lions left in California in 1969(the ban went into effect in 1972).  The numbers came from a count taken and funded by the society and the Sierra Club.  The figure posted in the article about the attack in So. Calif. stated that the last count put the figure at 4,000 to 6,000 lions.  What they didn't tell you is that count was made in 1985.  By now most game biologist believe the figure is nearer 3 times that, say up to 18,000 Mountain Lions in California alone.  From what I can find out that puts California number 1 in Mountain Lion population.  They REALLY MUST open up the lion hunting again in Calif. or the lion numbers are going to go even higher.  Like I said before I deleted the last post, BRING BACK MOUNTAIN HUNTING, MAKE THEM BIG GAME and GIVE THEM TROPHY STATUS.

I hope GB doesn't ask for his last paycheck back, I already spent mine.   :wink: Lawdog
 

[Siskiyou]

Lawdog:

Wow! When I looked for the Mt. Lion attack post and it was gone I thought the Mt. Lion Foundation had found it and hit the delete button with their "Boiler Plate" propaganda.  :devil2:  

Most people are unaware of the Lions around them.  I remember a Hippie Gal who lived in a remote mountain area.  She had a bunch of goats and a lion came in and killed one, then came back and killed another.  She called Cal. F&G and asked for help.  She got a negative answer.  She then called me and asked for my help because I knew the local warden and I owed her a favor.

I called the Warden and explained that we both owed her a favor.  He and the Federal Trapper went to her place.  After looking around they told her they could not find a trail.  She started pointing out the trail and they caught up with two lions in about a mile of tracking in rough country.  The Trapper shot both cats.  The warden called me and told me the results of the hunt.  He also told me this lady was bare footed while tracking in this rough country.  He said that she was able to track the cats down after the Trappers dog lost their scent.

The difference is that while some people have a cabin in the woods, she lives in the woods.  She knows what is going on in "her" woods, be it animal or man.  A free spirit.

Siskiyou

P.S.  She was aware of the cats in the area and kept her goats in covered pens at night.  The cat(s) went into the pen and got the goats.

[freddogs]

Maybe California should trade lions to other states for some other species. We have plenty of wolves here. Isn't the southeast short on lions. We only have a few lions in WI.

[Lawdog]

Fred,

You are to late.  We already have verified wolf sightings here in the northeast corner of he state.  It is believed that someone turned loose a pair of wolfs and like the Mountain Lions are obeying the Lords word by going forth and multiplying.  I know the states game biologist that was sent up there to see into the reports.  He has pictures(stills and video) plus tape recordings of them.  Fred, I go along with the idea of repopulating the rest of the states that don't have lions or only a few.  Bring it up to your powers to be and who knows, maybe it would do some good.  Anyone else need a few Mountain Kitty's?  Lawdog
 

[Siskiyou]

The Mt. Lion Foundation successfully killed the chance of Big Horn Sheep populations recovering in the Southern Serria's.  Cal Fish and Game has reported that the population has dropped big time because of Lion kills.  It is unlikely the Big Horn Sheep population will recover without taking out some Lions.

Siskiyou :yeah:

[Lawdog]

Siskiyou,

You are right as rain.  This is just one of the reasons we need to get Mountain Lion hunting reinstated here in California.  And I mean all types and forms of hunting.  Hunting with hounds, calling and even baiting.   :shock:   Baiting is used in Africa all the time to hunt the big cats so why not here?  Lawdog
 

[Siskiyou]

Lawdog:

I take exception to baiting.  I do not mined hounds.  But baiting has turned bear hunting into a road hunting situation.  I recall hunting with a friend and his two kids on the last day of deer season.  It was a peaceful morning until two rigs with dog boxes in the back came up the old mining road.  In a short time the area we were hunting was turned into a circus.  The dog ridding on a box picked up scent of a bear and all hell broke lose.  Our priority became keep the kids from getting hurt.  Clearly those road hunting bear hunters did not give a s.... about other hunters in the area.  World War II went off.  These roadside baiters work hard at placing roadside bait piles and driving around until the dogs hit on scent.  Then they raced around narrow logging roads in their vehicles trying to keep up with the dogs.  Dam at least put them on horse back.

Frankly I rather hunt poachers.  It is a fun game.

A few yards off the road in the brush was a major bait pile.  Now most of the bait piles I find in the woods are next to the road because these guys do not want to work hard.  Besides, the piles are also in the range of their spot lights at night.  

There are a lot of honest houndsmen out there who I support but the outlaws in the group make bear hunting and houndsmen an easy target.  In fact there are a number of legal houndsmen who do not kill the bear after treeing it.  They gather up their dogs and let it be.  In turn unlawful activity hurts the hunting community.  I normally encounter two or more bear every deer season that I could bag incidential to my deer hunting.  I chose not to because my family will not eat bear meat.  Not that I am against bear hunting.  I took my first bear in 1960 when I was a kid.

Siskiyou

[Ghoster]

Lawdog, I don't know if you have this in your Mtn. Lion History, but an aggressive Mtn Lion was killed in the Whitinng Ranch Park parking lot either last year or the year before, when it would not leave the parking lot after following either hikers or bikers to their auto.   I read about this in the OC Register when it happened.

[Lawdog]

Ghoster,

First let me Welcome you to Graybeard Outdoors, the best forum on the net for hunters/shooters going today.

No I don't have that incident in my records.  Do you have an address for the OC Register and a date to go along with it?  Like to get in touch with them for all the details they have.

Siskiyou,

The only reason I included baiting is for the hunters out there that are not up to following a pack of hounds chasing a lion thru hill and over mountains.  I used to do this back in the early 1960's and it's a young mans sport in my opinion.  Just looking at ways for a hunter to collect one of these big cats is all.  I have had Mountain Lions(2) come in when I was calling coyotes and such.  But not often enough for it to be a sure way of colledting one.  I have had many more Bobcats come to calls then lions, in fact I have had more Black Bears respond to calls.  Baiting should have rules on how it's to be done so hunters would just go thru the woods hanging bait all over the place.  Of course baiting could be done by getting a P.E.T.A member to bend down fixing a bike while you wait.  Could work.  Lawdog
 

[Power]

Funny but since they banned dogs for hunting cougars here we are actually killing more than before. Interesting article about why;

http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/hunter/gametrails/cougarharvest.htm

So go ahead and send some up here, I still need to fill my tag (good until today).