News & Columns > G.T. Houts > Mountain Lion Wounded (Update 1)

Mountain Lion Wounded (Update 1)

By G.T. Houts
Friday, January 4, 2008

Update 1

A mountain lion was shot and wounded by a Cederpines Park resident late Friday evening after the animal attacked two dogs in a fenced backyard.

Deputies from the Twin Peaks Sheriff's station found where the attack occurred and observed blood indicating the mountain lion had been wounded. However, a ground search failed to locate the injured animal.

The two dogs were not injured during the incident that was first called into the Sheriff's Department at 10:04 pm.

Original Story

Cedarpines Park, CA – A Cedarpines Park resident reported that at about 10 pm Thursday (January 3) evening a mountain lion entered his fenced back yard and went after his two German shepherd dogs.

"The mountain lion jumped in the yard," according to Paul Martin who lives in the Summit Drive and Playground Road area of Cedarpines Park, "and pursued them."

Martin told RIMOFTHEWORLD.net he fired a shot at the mountain lion and it jumped over the fence and ran back into the forest.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputies responded to the scene and conducted an area search but could not locate the mountain lion.

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) was contacted by deputies following the sighting and is investigating the incident.

Fish & Game logs hundreds of Wildlife Incident Reports each year related to sightings of mountain lions. On average, according to DFG statistics, fewer than three (3) percent of these reports result in a mountain lion being identified as an imminent threat to public safety. Mountain lions designated as a threat are killed under the department's Wildlife Public Safety Guidelines.

DFG brochures indicate more than half of California is prime mountain lion habitat. In a brochure entitled "Keep Me Wild," it states mountain lions prefer deer but, if allowed, they also eat pets and livestock.

In extremely rare cases, even people have fallen prey to mountain lions. However, conflicts are increasing as California's human population expands into mountain lion habitat.

Animal experts suggest sometimes disease will cause a mountain lion will behave strangely and display unusually bold behavior towards humans. Some mountain lions killed for public safety reasons have tested positive for feline leukemia.

Usually, DFG representatives say there is no apparent reason for why a mountain lion seems to abandon its instinctive wariness of humans. Mountain lions are typically solitary and elusive. Studies of collared mountain lions show that they often co-exist around people, unseen and unheard.

Department statistics show a human being is one thousand times more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion. However, mountain lions are wild animals and, like any wildlife, can be dangerous.

Residents of the mountain communities can take precautions to reduce the risk of encountering a mountain lion. By deer-proofing the landscape, mountain homeowners canb avoid attracting a lion's main food source. Removing dense vegetation from around the home and installing outdoorf lighting will make it difficult for mountain lions to approach unseen.

Fish and Game officials offer the following tips for people in areas where mountain lions have been sighted:

• Do not hike, bike, or jog alone.
• Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active — at dawn, at dusk and at night.
• Keep a close watch on small children.
• Do not approach a mountain lion.
• If you encounter a mountain lion, do not run; instead, face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms; throw rocks or other objects. Pick up small children.
• If attacked, fight back.
• If a mountain lion attacks a person, immediately call 911.

DFG's Ontario regional office can be reached at 909-484-0167. Additional information is available at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/lion/lion_faq.html.