Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Um, Don't Try To Pet Mountain Lion Cubs

A relatively minor mountain lion "attack" was reported Wednesday at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in Orange County. From the LA Times:
Lassiter told authorities that he was hiking and came across a female lion and three cubs that he estimated were about 8 weeks old. "He said they seemed so cute and cuddly and passive," Amormino said.

When he went to pet one of the cubs, Lassiter told authorities, the mother lunged at him -- and then ran off.
The hiker received some scratches on his arm. Sounds like the mountain lion gave him a pretty fair deal.

I've been fascinated by mountain lions since my brief encounter with two mountain lions in Yosemite this April.

Here is a what you SHOULD do if you cross paths with a mountain lion.

1 comment:

Jeff Lowe said...

I still laugh at your written description of our encounter though it wasn't funny at the time. I, too, was relieved to be back in civilization on the way back to the tram.