Word: lions
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...July 31, a six-year-old camper was pulled from the jaws of a mountain lion by a 16-year-old counselor on a hiking trail near Missoula, Mont. The animal slunk away and was later tracked and killed; the child suffered puncture wounds and numerous scratches. In April, in Villa Park, Calif., which is about six miles east of Disneyland, a cougar climbed into a pine tree in Alice Thompson's backyard, leaped onto her front porch and nudged at the door before trying to jump a fence into a neighboring yard. Animal-control officials killed...
What's clear is that humans have expanded into habitat that was once the relatively exclusive domain of the cougar. "We're having more encounters because we're moving into their territory," says Lynn Sadler, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation, a national pro-cougar lobbying group based in Sacramento, Calif. "We are not only reducing the size of their available range but fragmenting it." She recalls a recent incident in Roseville, Calif., where a lion walked right through a brand-new apartment complex. The site straddled a natural pathway that lions used to travel between neighboring ranges. "There...
...what can be done to get out of the way of the lions? Unlike bears, lions do not attack simply because their young are threatened. Lions hunt, skulking around their prey unnoticed before pouncing. Females and males are equally predatory. Yosemite wildlife-control officer Kate McCurdy recalls a Yosemite lion who sat near tents in 1994, intently watching shadows cast by people partying inside. Cougars tend to pick solitary prey; thus the lone jogger and the occasional bird watcher are in greater danger. But when lions do decide to target a group, they go after the smaller elements...
Steve Torres, an Arizona naturalist and the author of the book Mountain Lion Alert, has formulated some advice. Do not run from a lion--they recognize prey by flight. Yell and scream instead. Eye contact, too, establishes a threat to the cougar, or you may wave it away. Raise your arms to make yourself seem bigger than you actually are. If in a group, band together and pick up the children. If you are with pets, forget about them. Defend your children. And if the lion attacks, fight back, brandishing a threatening object--knife, branch, stick...
...what can be done to prevent lions from roaming on property? Torres says anything that attracts deer increases the chances of mountain lion incursions. "Landscape your yard with native plants that do not attract deer," Torres advises. And don't leave garbage exposed. It attracts smaller animals, which is what a hungry cougar is looking...