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Mountain lion snatches boy in Northern California

September 8, 2014

Mountain-LionA mountain lion attacked a 6-year-old boy on a Northern California hiking trail Sunday afternoon and dragged him through nearby brush. [SF Gate]

The boy was hiking with his family near a winery located in the Bay Area city of Cupertino. Family members came to the rescue and fought off the mountain lion, allowing the child to walk away without life threatening injuries.

After the attack, authorities closed nearby hiking trails and conducted a search for the mountain lion. But, officials have not found the animal.

Kurtis Stenderup, a spokesman for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, said it remains unclear why the mountain lion attacked the boy.

“I think it’s rare to have a mountain lion attack a person, let alone a child,” Stenderup said. “We’re going to look into it and figure out why that whole thing happened.”


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There are few mountain lions, but there are lots of kids. What’s the big deal?


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Nothing that 60+ grains of lead can’t fix. Repeat dosage as necessary.


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Unless you miss and hit the child.


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Mountain Lion attacks on humans happen more often then it appears based on “reporting”. Each and every time a human is attacked there is always a quote from an official about how very rare these attacks are. The problem is nobody keeps track OF ALL THE ATTACKS. A number of websites purport to keep track and always show a minimal number of attacks – a few over 20 – 30 years. However, if you simply dig through news reports on the internet you can find many, many reports of attacks on humans by mountain lions that do not show up on these websites purporting to keep track of mountain lion attacks against humans. It appears the under reporting is on purpose.


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The drought is impacting most species. Early morning, we have seen deer in the farm fields near where we live. We have not yet seen mountain lions or bear, but I would not be surprised to see them because, as forage for deer decrease, they are forced to move to new areas where there is forage and water. The predators follow the prey, and that means increased sightings of predators.


In severe drought it is lunacy to take small children into wooded areas where there is cover for predators. Children move in ways that attract predators, and even predators that usually avoid humans, when other prey are scarce, may be forced to take a chance with attacking a human…especially a small human that naturally moves like prey.


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Sorry Mary but you hypothesis on Deer is partially incorrect. Deer do not need water on a regular basis. That is why if you live near them, they come into your yard and like to eat a lot of the shinny leave type plants. That is where they get water source from. How do I know? I did a report in class on deer, years ago at Cuesta.


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Water is taken in by animals in different ways. Drinking from an available water source is one way. Getting moisture from moisture-laden forage is another way.


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Shoot, shovel, shut up.


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The animal-hugging citiots of SFO and LAX voted for this. HSUS indoctrinated citiots think that animals have more rights than people.


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Bingo!


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There is a process called natural selection. As humans, we try to isolate ourselves from that reality, but when we make fatal mistakes in the wild spaces where animal predators roam, if the predator takes advantage of that mistake, it is not the fault of the predator.


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True as far as you go, but NCG is also right. Hunting of mountain lions — even very limited hunting — makes them much less inclined to be around humans. That may not have worked in the case above because they probably couldn’t safely allow hunting that close to a major metro area. But for those who live in less populated areas with more dense predator populations, hunting mountain lions to keep their population down also has the effect of keeping them farther from people and those inevitable conflicts.


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Couple years ago our sweet old Polish Arabian had take-down rake marks on the hind quarters and underbelly attack probably trying to eviscerate. Mountain lion teamwork, we supposed. “Raider” got away but was marked up a lot. Remembering that and the vet bills makes me think I like a sentence from another poster which said in part, “kill all the lions they find”.


Strangely, the vet attempted to say it was barb wire injury, we surmised so he wouldn’t have to let us have a lion depredation permit. We didn’t engage him in a debate, just paid the bill pleasantly and crossed his number out of our phone book.


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Let me get this straight…


You have horses for which it is your responsibility to feed, mAintain and keep safe.


Your horse was left in a place where an apex predator could access it…


…and it is the fault of the apex predator for doing what it has evolved to do?


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I’ll help you get the big picture straight. The apex predator is man. Cougar populations used to be managed by man in California based upon deer herds and the needs of mankind to encroach (that means “live”, as our ranch does) on certain territories of land.


The fact that tame, jewel-collared pumas were shown on every liberal TV show so that the voting public would remove proper management tools from wildlife biologists has created an overconcentration of cougars. They are now encroaching on hiking trails, bike trails, and wineries, and horse pastures.


We happen to have made adjustments to protect the Arabian, however the voters screwed over the ability to effectively manage cougars. Cougars did not evolve at 150 lbs to take down a 950+ lb. equine,


You are pretty far off all the way around in regards to the horse/ranch/cougar beliefs you hold, at least from a wildlife management standpoint.


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LameCommenter says: “The fact that tame, jewel-collared pumas were shown on every liberal TV show so that the voting public would remove proper management tools from wildlife biologists”


You said it best “You are pretty far off all the way around “


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1. LameCommenter, unfortunately, you are the one is you are wrong when you claim that man is the only apex predator.

(http//en.m.wikipedia/List_of_apex_predators)


The information from Wikipedia is consistent with other info found on the internet.


Cougar and bear are on this list of apex predators.


2. “Encroach” means gradually taking over rights or possessions to which you are not entitled. While encroaching can include taking over another’s land property, the definition goes beyond just to “live” on land that is not yours.


3. Cougar can certainly take down a horse, especially if they are desperate for food. Cougar bring down horses by going for hindquarters to take them down, then going for the throat . Once the jugular is opened, bleeding out Can occur quickly. Even if the wound is not a gusher, the horse can be significantly weaken the horse such that the cougar can use other strategies to finish off the horse.


4. Cougars are now found in areas they previously did not frequent because of a lack of prey in areas where they usually hunt. In addition, humans encroaching on land that is suitable for mountain lions forces them into areas where humans live. According to the Mountain Lion Foundation California’s recent statements, the number of courses in California are decreasing.


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Not to beat this up too much, but if you will recall the ban on lion hunting was pushed by frequent TV appearances of apparently tame, jewel collared cougars. Period. People voted their heart and not good rangeland management principles. I don’t blame them, that’s what people do, people voted their heart on Obama (how’s that working out for us, the Middle East, beheaded Americans, the dollar, my vanished health plan and lost doctors) but I’m annoyed that you don’t recognize nor remember that lion hunting emotional proposition, TV appeals, and eventual vote.


Your other points pretty much cite the obvious (range encroachment, growth of human populations) but don’t address facts that responsible MANAGEMENT has been taken away. Injuries and the occasional mauling death will therefore continue.


Carry on with your armchair reading style, management of predators. As a licensed falconer, I got closer to them than you could dream.


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“but I’m annoyed that you don’t recognize”


Wth, This has nothing to do with you or Obama or other pointless derails


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A predator animal must risk its own life every time it feeds, so it avoids altercations by choosing prey that is unaware of its presence, sickly, exausted or already unconscious or dead. Mountain lions tend to stick to the prey they are familiar with, unless they are desparate. The drought may have made life much harder for this animal or, more likely, it is sickly itself from old age (which often causes their teeth to fail) or wounding. That is what they meant by “looking into it”. They will most likely hunt this animal down and exterminate it for the sake of other humans and for humane reasons as well. They will, I hope make some effort to eliminate the correct animal, If they simply kill all the mountain lions they can find, it would harm the ecology of the area, possibly without solving the problem.


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Yeah, fine, you go ahead and “look into it” Mr. Stenderup. I think the rest of us already have it pretty much figured out.


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It is much more rare for a hungry animal to walk away from a food, their child was very lucky. I used to walk my rural road at nite until I saw how large these wild cats can be, a circus lion! I only needed to see one and it was not a skinny 100 pound cat, they can be much bigger.


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