Why you should always stay at home

[bluerail]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ26vzS10qU

[Sally]

Yikes! Do you know where this occured, Steve? I don't want to hike or sleep where that happened.

[Ellen]

Howdy Sally

Apparently, in Nevada county in northern CA. Hiker was sleeping under the stars by the Yuba river and woke up with a paw on his head. He sustained lots of scratches and bites and was patched up at an ER. The news story I watched noted 15 mountain lion attacks on humans since 1890's in CA -- only 3 deaths since 1980. The cougar will be destroyed when they find it -- I'm hoping the DNA evidence will confirm the right cat.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[zippetydude]

Statistically it's silly to worry with numbers like those. But it certainly occurs to me when I'm out in the pitch black darkness of the wilderness, alone, running along a trail. Just seems more likely than it is, I guess...

z

[Ellen]

Howdy Z

I agree with you re: the statistics. I think that news stories like these exaggerate the dangers posed by mountain lions. I would love to see one in the wild, though perhaps not as up close and personal as Pi's encounter on San Gorgonio.

Miles of smiles,
Ellen

[Ed]

My wife saw one on our property once. Fortunately, she was in the car at the time, but she said it was still quite scary. A few years later, a woman was killed by one while hiking Cuyamaca Peak, on a Saturday morning no less. Mountain lion sightings in eastern San Diego county seem to be much less frequent since the 2003 fires.