A mountain lion was reported on Doublepeak trail around 2:30pm this afternoon, near the Symphony/Montage vacant development in San Elijo Hills. The mountain lion was reported to be full size and was crossing the paved part of the trail. This location would match sighting last fall
The following safety tips are provided by the California Department of Fish and Game. They are based on studies of mountain behavior and analysis of attacks by mountain lions.
- Don’t hike alone. Go in groups, with adults supervising children an keep children close to you. Observations of captured mountain lions reveal that the animals seem especially drawn to children. Keep children within your sight at all times.
- Don’t approach a lion. Most mountain lions will try to avoid a confrontation. Give them a way to escape.
- Don’t run from a lion. Running stimulates a mountain lion’s instinct to chase. Instead, stand and face the animal. Make eye contact. If you have small children with you, pick them up if possible so that they don’t panic and run. Although it may be awkward, pick them up without bending over or turning away from the lion.
- Don’t crouch or bend over. A squatting or bending person looks a lot like a four-legged prey animal.
- Do all you can to appear larger. Raise your arms. Open your jacket if you are wearing one. Throw stones, branches or whatever you can reach without crouching or turning your back. Wave your arms slowly and speak firmly in a loud voice.
- Fight back if attacked. Some hikers have fought back successfully with sticks, caps, jackets, garden tools and their bare hands. Since a mountain lion usually tries to bite the head or neck, try to remain standing and face the attacking animal. For more information about mountain lions, contact the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), case of emergency call 911 and DFG at 916-445-0045
RE Fight back: If the whiny libs hadn’t ruled our state for too long, we’d actually be allowed the means: A GUN!
The best advice here is: “Don’t hike alone”. Good for defense against all kinds of predators, even the (more likely to attack and kill you) human kind.
If both/all of you carry a stick and/or a knife, even better.
Yeah!!! Guns are the answer!!! Can’t wait to show my son how cool it is to carry and shoot a weapon. Then he’ll get the respect he deserves.
If the problem is a large predator that enjoys a size and strength advantage over you trying to kill you, whether that is a mountain lion or a recidivist rapist, then the correct answer IS a gun.
If the problem is your self esteem, well, the larger the barrel, the smaller the…
So, what you are saying is that I should carry a gun with me when I go for a run. Your logic probably led you to vote for Bush, twice. You are probably against legalized pot. Probably are for getting services without paying taxes. Probably too good to mow your own lawn so you hire illegals. Am I correct? If so, then you need to head to church, kneel at the alter, and beg for forgiveness.
p.s. Don’t forget to take your gun with you since that is what Jesus would do.
Wow, you know a lot about me for someone who never met me.
Up to you what you want to do when you go for a run. All I ask is that you not dictate that I be disarmed.
AS for the rest of it, you have no idea what I think, and are far off base on most of it, except that I voted for G.W ONCE, in 2000.
My basic political philosophy is libertarain.
Yours appears to be statist atheist, and to insult and force everyone who doesn’t think like you to act according to your beliefs.
What I love about the so-called Liberals is that they are as bigoted and intransigent as those they abhor. They just want to force people to act according to THEIR beliefs, which are mostly anti whatever came before.
I can’t stand people trying to establish a state religion, whether it’s Judeo-Christianity or Gaianism.
I think you should be free to run naked if you want, as long as I’m free to be armed, and you don’t’ expect me to clean up the mess when you get eaten.
Soooo, do you mow your own lawn or not? Just interested.
Tom – do you always have to turn political? Guns are not always the answer. I am a liberal and before you think I am anti-gun, I own 3 and was raised around them.
When we are reduced to cowering and useless advice in the face of wild animals and psychopaths because we are denied the correct means of self defense, then it IS political.
Whether YOU personally are anti-gun or not, the reason we are denied the means of self defense IS because of those who call themselves “Liberal” (there’s nothing liberal about US Liberals, the correct term is Socialists), who actively trample on individual liberty and make us all dependent on the state as a matter of policy.
The Sierra Club advises, when confronted with a bear, to make lots of noise, bang pots and pans, etc. Due to the banning of guns in National Parks (which were established as hunting preserves, and are funded partially by the tax on ammunition), those are the only options a law abiding citizen has.
This has resulted in the following joke among backcountry hikers and mountaineers:
Q: How can you tell the difference between brown bear scat and grizzly bear scat?
A: Brown bear scat has seeds and berries in it. Grizzly bear scat has tent poles, parts of pots and pans, and shredded Sierra Club membership cards in it.
The correct advice is: Never travel alone, always carry a weapon useful against the threats you may encounter, a good first aid kit, a means of making fire, a water filter, and a two way radio that can reach whatever help is in the area you are in.