jpconrad

There'a a mountain lion that attacked a dog roaming around the area of La Cresenta.

From the article:

Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich urged residents to follow guidelines provided by the State Department of Fish and Game to avoid coming in contact with a mountain lion. They include:

Avoid hiking, biking, or jogging alone;
Don't feed dear; it is illegal in California and it will attract mountain lions. Mountain lions generally exist wherever deer, their primary prey, are found;
Deer-proof your landscaping by avoiding plants that deer like to eat;
Trim brush to reduce hiding places for mountain lions;
Don't leave small children or pets outside unattended;
Install motion sensitive lighting around the house; and bring pet food inside to avoid attracting raccoons, opossums, and other potential mountain lion prey.




https://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_234114437.html

magicant

You're FULL of good news this morning.

jpconrad

Yes I am!

JustMe

Ya John. I'm beginning to think your a believer in the "No news is good news" syndrome.

scvroadie

Hills around L.A. are full of wild creatures, including a few mountain lions. We have encountered them two different times while climbing & riding Little T, and once on Angeles Forest up around Mill Creek summit. Each time once they saw us, they went the other way.

jpconrad

Nah, no news makes me worry!

jpconrad

I wouldn't want to have an encounter with a mountain lion if I was by myself, especially this one that doesn't have any fear of people.

This sucks for me, though, as I'm planning on doing a bunch of hill climbing over the next few weeks and most of it will be solo, I'm sure, due to my schedule.

urbanknight

I read this as I am winding down after a solo ride to Montrose and back, lol. I have been spending most of my time in fairly populated areas, though.

jpconrad, what's your schedule? I'm a teacher on Summer vacation right now, so let me know when and where... and how far.

Us being the key word. Coyotes and mountain lions are much less likely to attack a group of anything than they are a lone creature.

spingineer

I think John looks for bad news and spreads it to us ...

jpconrad

I'm going to need to start doing some more hills again starting on Wednesday, it'll probably be in the morning before sun up, or in the evening as I've got to work around work and family responsibilities.

I'd like to start doing Wilson, or at least Red Box twice a week.

jpconrad

I'm just looking out for you!

merider1

Unless you are mountain biking, John, I don't think you need worry. Mountain lions rarely come down to roads and if they do, are often scared off by any traffic. Even Chantry will have some traffic. I was once told that when climbing the canyons in Griffith Park on weekend mornings alone, to occassionally sing or holler out. This will scare any cat that may be stalking silently along the ridge, mistakening me for prey. But generally, I am not fearful of those animals unless in/near brush off of roads. I would NOT go up into the GP canyons alone at night, however. If a cat is up there, I would be considered prey for sure.

jpconrad

Going into someone's yard and grabbing their dog in front of them without any fear of them would lead me to think this one may be a little more brazen than the average one.

merider1

I suspect he/she is just starving, John. I try not to think of those cats' natural actions as brazen or their attacks as vicious (as the media always claims them to be). With it being as dry as it has been this year and the fires, they don't have a lot to feed from. I feel sorry for mountain lions (as I do for victims of their attacks, of course). They are being pushed farther into each other (the males really shoudn't be within less than a few 100 miles of each other) and are losing their natural habitat. Coming down and attacking a dog isn't out of character. Sad thing is, the rangers will have to find that cat and kill it as it is now a threat to humans. In reality, we're the threat to them and their existence. Of course, I wouldn't want to be the human attacked and eaten by a starving mountain lion either...

socalrider

Animals are coming off the local hills and mountains looking for water and food.. Since it has not rained in quite some time, I have seen Coyotes by my house in Upland.. I also saw a bobcat on GMR last week..

urbanknight

I'll see if I can get my skills up by then. My wife leaves for work at 6:30 and comes back around 6, so what I do during that time doesn't matter to her as long as I get my chores done.

And ME's right, they're just getting more "brazen" because they can't find food in their diminishing environment, so they either have to be willing to come into our areas or starve. I still don't want to be a meal for them, though.

kehrhart

JP - Depending on work and other things I try to go up Angeles Crest one or two mornings a week before work, though I usually just go to Clear Creek and then come back down. I try to leave from Foothill and Angeles Crest (think Sport Chalet, which is just a block or so from my house) between 5:30 and 6:00 am (it usually takes me about an hour to get to Clear Creek and then another 15 or 20 minutes down) - I've noticed that the traffic coming down the hill at that time of the morning during the week is pretty bad and those drivers make me pretty nervous sometimes. It's not a terribly long ride (about 10 miles up and another 10 down) but it seems like a pretty good way to start the day. Anyhow, I'd love to join you if you start doing those weekday morning rides - I'm happy to go on to Red Box or Mt. Wilson if the schedule allows for it. Thanks, Kevin

Tom Stormcrowe

Wello, there's always Bear Spray.....

Saved my butt once in Michigan in a Wolf encounter out in the Superior National Forest about 30 miles from the nearest house.

jpconrad

Cool, I'll try to get my act together by next week.

Cyclon

Diamond Bar has a lot of cases of dogs being taken away for food by mountain lions.

An aunt of mine lost one of her dogs to a mountain lion. So sad.

jpconrad

I do like going for a ride here and there during the day, usually for an hour to an ninety minutes to clear my head of this work stuff. Since you're just up the street from me we should try and coordinate something. Since I just got back from a week off, though, work's a little crazy this week, but I'll be up for something next week for sure! Have you done any riding around the Sacred Hearts and/or Glen Oaks areas?

urbanknight

^ Nope, but I'd like to explore and expand my repertoire. I've only done the Rose Bowl and a trip by the Montrose Bakery and back Foothill.

felt1

I like kat and cougars.

jpconrad

Cool, we can go up them, they're good little climbs by the Bowl.

tombunn

It's unlikely that the particular mountain lion is still roaming around La Crescenta. Mountain lions have large ranges and are said to travel 40 miles in a day.

I live a block from that incident - I know the guy whose dog was taken. The area is up in the hills near the national forest, and nowhere near where any sane cyclist would be. In the 18 years I have lived there, we have had 4 or 5 mountain lion sightings. I walk alone up there all the time and have never had any problem.

This one was not especially aggressive - when they come into the residential areas at all, they usually go for pets. Once a mountain lion crashed into a sliding glass door in an effort to get a small child.

You should certainly be alert and careful while riding. But this is not a reason to avoid La Crescenta, especially if you are riding on Foothill Boulevard.