A San Diego County motorist unintentionally spoiled a mountain lion’s attempt to kill a deer this week when he stopped to capture the scene on video.
Buddy Wilkerson of Alpine told NBC that he first saw just the deer on the side of Japatul Road, then realized he had stumbled upon a mountain lion predation attempt.
“All I saw was the deer. It was a big deer,” Wilkerson says in the footage. “And as I got closer, I saw the mountain lion.”
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Wilkerson estimated the mountain lion’s weight at 100-plus pounds. In California, mule deer are typical prey for adult mountain lions, or cougars.
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Wilkerson said he did not intend to frighten the mountain lion, which is seen releasing its grip on the deer’s throat and sprinting into the wilderness, allowing the deer to escape.
“He was just trying to eat,” Wilkerson acknowledges in the video. “I wasn’t trying to, you know, interrupt or anything. I just wanted to see him and as I got a little bit closer, I guess it spooked him.”
–Generic mountain lion image courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service