venturi95

Fake eyes looking back on the last guy in line walking, I read somewhere that's what tiger hunters do.

Dirt Farmer

I don't consider myself especially "brave", but if a mountain lion has his jaws clamped on me, you can damned well bet I'll fight and try to strangle it.

Cyclist0108

Around here, mountain lions kill deer and then rip out their kidneys and eat them, leaving the remainder for scavengers.

rumrunn6

curbtender

Out at the Farallon Islands there is a pod of Killer whales that have learned to feed on great whites. They flip them upside down and hold them until they suffocate. When this happens, the other sharks disappear. A tagged shark was tracked and I guess they beeline to the Hawaii.

Rollfast

But was he on a bike? Nope, a runner.

FOO.

KraneXL

Where did you get that? That's not characteristic of a mountain lion. Humans aren't on their food list and they will avoid human contact. Attacks happen when you stumble onto them, or they are cornered.

One more thing, these are wild animals not pets. They can turn on you in the blink of an eye.

indyfabz

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.0909f89d49f8

Appears to have been sick and desperate.

GailT

Sounds like you have confused mountain lion and bears. There have many incidents of mountain lions stalking and attacking humans. Read "Beast in the Garden". There have been many more incidents after that book was published.

Cyclist0108

We have those here, too. We even have a nursery of great whites where our kids do "junior guards" events.

Cyclist0108

Publication of the book was really irresponsible, as it clearly planted this idea into the heads of many young and impressionable mountain lions.

Cyclist0108

At least one was trans. It is clearly a mountain lion hate-crime.

indyfabz

A few years ago, the ex-husband of an old friend and former student of mine (I was a TA in legal research and writing) was attacked and partially consumed by a grizzly while working in Yellowstone. The bear then cached his body. It's believed he came upon it and her two cubs.

In 2016 or so, two relatives were MTB-ing on U.S.F.S. land not far from Glacier National Park. The lead guy was bombing a wooded descent at up to 25 mph. Came around a bend and hit a grizzly, which proceeded to maul him to death. He was a Forest Service cop. The pal, who I think was his brother in law, came upon the scene, but there was nothing he could do so he rode off. Accident reconstruction calculated that, depending on riding speed, he had between 1 and 3 seconds to react after seeing the bear. The deceased had upper body/limb injuries consistent with flying over the handlebars, which is why they think he struck the animal and pissed it off. The animal eas not hunted because there were no signs of predatory behavior. (I.e., It did not eat and/or cache the body.)

rumrunn6

so the Jr guards practice w the Jr sharks?

Cyclist0108

Yeah, it turns out they don't typically feed on humans during procreation.

Sometimes they take it more seriously, if folks from out of town are visiting:
https://www.ksbw.com/article/15-shar...nceled/1056952

Personally, I am far more worried about the used hypodermic needles in the sand.

Doesn't seem to bother the triatheloners either:
https://www.santacruzwaves.com/2015/...-shark-scares/

Steve B.

Well not really a problem, as long as you're not swimming while wearing a black wetsuit.

The GW's have pretty much always had a presence off the eastern shores of Cape Cod but there's been an increase in the past few years as the seal population increased. They think possibly due to warming ocean waters. But the GW's have always used these waters as a breeding ground and it's been a known fact. The water for swimming tends to be cold till Sept. or so, so there haven't been many problems until lately. As well lots of folks using drones and can now take great video's of what looks like sharks stalking surfers and such. Likely they've always done that but nobody knew.

It was a bit of a surprise to discover that Sand Tiger Sharks use the Great South Bay of Long Island as a nursery, as well as there being a breading ground off the south shore of the Hamptons for GW's. Thing is, there's a great deal more research being done these days and better technology to track sharks, so we are finding out about shark behavior that's been mostly unknown.

indyfabz

"All this machine does is swim, and eat and make little sharks."--Matt Hooper

indyfabz

See post # 61 above. I gave him a link.

bakerjw

Last July, my son, Jeff a coworker and I were riding the Tour Divide route. We had come over Lodgepole pass and stopped to grab a bite at Butts Cabin before going over Cabin Pass. It was getting late in the afternoon as we crested Cabin Pass and we were all a bit tired from the climb and we had a strong headwind. The wind through the scrub and grass was a bit loud. Jeff was ahead of us about 12 feet when all of the sudden a mountain lion hopped up from behind a clump of grass and took off down a grassy embankment. We were downwind and it was relatively noisy so it had no idea that we were there. That was one of the highlights of the ride. Later on, I took some pictures of footprints in the mud from a bit cat. Might have been the same one.

indyfabz

I have seen several bears during bike tours, including a huge black bear in 2017 that was too close to comfort (staring at each from a distance of about 25' a I was about to leave camp). I find myself torn over wanting to see a lion. I am sure it was tres cool, but at the same I wonder if it would be terrifying under many situations.

When I was in Glacier N.P. in 2017 the campground host told me that the year before a lion came into camp and killed one of a small group of deer that would frequent the campground. They believe heavy spring snow at higher elevations forced the cat down to find food. I got this vision of getting out of my tent only to find a hungry big cat licking its lips.

Rajflyboy

GailT

The trail runner who killed the lion will speak at a news conference on Thursday.

In the Boulder/Lyons area in Colorado, there are many incidents of mountain lions in town, on peoples porches, and more rarely, entering houses. Attacks on people are rare, but lions do sometimes stalk and attack people, with kids and small adults being more vulnerable - as in this case in 2006:
My mountain lion story, in Riverside CA about 15 years ago - was out for a late morning run on a trail less than 1/4 mile from dense neighborhood, I saw what I assumed was a coyote lying in the path ahead - there were lots of coyotes in the area so I kept running. I was fairly close when it finally heard me and it jumped up - as soon as it moved I realized it was a lion - it ran up the hill maybe 30 feet and sat on a rock, body facing away from me but with it's head turned over its shoulder watching me. I had the sense that it was waiting to see if I was going to keep chasing it, and that it was ready to run again. I stood and stared at it for a minute, and then I slowly walked on.

KraneXL

It should be mentioned that these human/animal encounters happen due to people encroaching into the animal's habitat.

GailT

That's partly true, with increasing development in the wildland urban interface, but we also have an expanding mountain lion population, with lions spreading into towns and cities and feeding on pet dogs and cats. So they are also encroaching into our habitat.

rumrunn6

our little lions like to bring 'em home alive, so we have a closed door policy, to keep them from bringing them into our den ... I think those big cats are not as well trained ...