Tag: cougar

Watch: Partially blind cougar shows why she’s still a super mom

A cougar nicknamed Uno because she has only one good eye was caught on a trail camera recently proving why she’s still a super mom.

A cougar nicknamed Uno because she has only one good eye was caught on a trail camera recently proving why she’s still a super mom.

The nighttime footage, captured by cameras monitored by Nathalie Orozco and Mark Girardeau, shows Uno dragging a deer carcass through the Southern California wilderness with two cubs in tow.

As viewers can see, light from the infrared camera reflects from only one of Uno’s eyes. Biologists believe she’s partially blind in the other eye, perhaps because of an old injury.

But it’s clear that she’s able to fend for herself and her offspring.

On Tuesday, Girardeau shared the footage to his Orange County Outdoors social media pages.

“Uno scored a nice meal!” he exclaimed on Facebook. “Every animal in nature has its role: deer graze the grass and spread seeds while mountain lions keep the deer population under control to prevent overgrazing.

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“After bears were extirpated from Orange County, mountain lions are the only animals left to play this vital role as the keystone species that they are.”

Uno before being collared. Photo: ©Mark Girardeau

Girardeau told FTW Outdoors that he has been monitoring Uno’s habitat with trail cameras since 2019. Biologists from UC Davis put a tracking collar on Uno a year ago. The mountain lion is cataloged as F312.

“This is a decent sized deer as you can see Uno struggling to move it to a safe place before retrieving her kittens to feed with her,” Girardeau continued, adding that Uno’s cubs are about 7 months old.

The father of the cubs is believed to be Toro (M313), who also appears sporadically in trail-cam footage.

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Mountain lion hunts coyote in eerie footage captured by trail-cam

Nighttime footage captured via trail-cam shows a mountain lion pursuing a coyote into darkness on a Southern California trail, and audio hints at a successful hunt.

Nighttime footage captured recently via trail-cam shows a mountain lion pursuing a coyote into total darkness on a Southern California trail – and audio hints at a successful hunt.

The eerie scene appeared on a motion-sensor camera placed by photographer Nathalie Orozco.

Her footage begins with a lone coyote trotting rapidly down the trail, and the mountain lion, or cougar, in a cautious pursuit that turns into an apparent ambush after both animals vanish into the blackness.

In the Facebook description Mark Girardeau, who runs Orange County Outdoors, urges viewers to turn the volume up because it reveals how this likely ended – with the coyote crying out while under attack.

Girardeau writes: “The coyote was trotting along as they usually do and unaware of the mountain lion which just happened to be walking along his normal route.

“Just before entering the frame, the mountain lion noticed the coyote and went into action to secure his next meal. Notice how the mountain lion pounces quietly rather than sprinting.”

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Girardeau explained that mountain lions are ambush hunters that rely on stealth to capture prey.

“After checking the area, we noticed lots of coyote fur but did not locate a kill so we’re uncertain of the outcome,” the photographer continued, noting that mountain lions often drag kills off-trail. “Our guess is that the mountain lion was successful based on other nearby cameras which showed him hanging out in the area for the entire night afterwards.”

The mountain lion, a young male nicknamed Toro, is scientifically cataloged as M313. Girardeau said Toro might be the father of kittens recently born to Uno, who occasionally appears before Girardeau’s cameras.

The footage was captured on private property in the Orange County Wilderness.

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Man ‘played chicken’ with a cougar in Olympic National Park, and won

A fisherman returning from a lake in Olympic National Park encountered a cougar on the trail, and fortunately he had survival training.

Correction & clarification: A prior version of this story misidentified Bart Brown.

A fisherman returning from Lake Angeles in Olympic National Park in Washington encountered a mountain lion on the trail, and fortunately he had survival training for such an incident.

Bart Brown told KIRO 7 that “something just told me to look over my shoulder, and there was a cougar right there…on the edge of the trail.”

“She was about to attack me. I’m serious. I’m dead serious,” he told KIRO 7.

“It’s one of them life or death situations and I felt like I was going to die.

“Like I was prepared to die. I’m going to fight this cougar and I know I’m not going to win, you know. But I’m going to try.”

Jason Knight, owner of Alderleaf Wilderness College, told KIRO 7 that if a cougar isn’t running in the other direction to get away from you, “the appropriate response is to be aggressive towards it.”

Brown followed that advice.

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“It was going to be me or her, right?” Brown told KIRO 7. “And so I charged her. I charged the cougar.

“She gets down and she looks at me and I look at her, too…We’re in a death stare. I’m like, here we go. I muster the courage. I charged her again. We played chicken and I won. And she took off down the mountain.”

KIRO 7 has a short clip of the Aug. 20 encounter in its video report.

From the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife:

Cougar attacks on humans are extremely rare. In Washington state, the first fatal cougar attack on a human was reported in 1924. Since then, state authorities have recorded 19 other cougar-human encounters that resulted in a documented injury, including a second fatal attack in 2018.

Generic image of a cougar courtesy of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Viewers challenged to spot mountain lion hiding in arroyo

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday challenged followers to spot the mountain lion stalking an elk in the accompanying image.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday challenged followers to spot the mountain lion stalking an elk in the accompanying image.

“The rules are simple. Find the mountain lion in this picture,” the USFWS instructed via Facebook.

If the image looks familiar, FTW Outdoors featured the photo, and a more revealing photo, in a quiz post early last month. (The answer is provided in the accompanying links.)

Photo: USFWS

The images were captured in 2019 by a motion-sensor camera overlooking an arroyo at Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.

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For the answer to a quiz the USFWS titled, “Where’s Lion-o,” click on the  USFWS link or the FTW Outdoors link (cougar is circled). Both provide  more details but neither reveals what happened to the elk.

The USFWS stated: “The outcome of what happened between the elk and the lion remains a mystery, but it’s a good reminder that nature is amazing and sometimes a little sneaky.”

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Can you spot the mountain lion stalking the elk?

Can you spot the mountain lion stalking the elk in a trail-cam image captured at Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge?

Travel Guide Book on Saturday shared an image showing the hind portion of an elk and, somewhere in the arroyo, a predatory mountain lion.

Research reveals that the image was captured by a motion-sensor trail camera in October 2019 as part of an arroyo restoration project in New Mexico’s Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge.

Rio Mora shared the image as a quiz for its Facebook followers in July 2020. It’s a difficult quiz and the answer is provided near the bottom of this post.

A common theme in the Travel Guide Book comments section: “It took a while.”

Can you spot the mountain lion? 

Several Rio Mora followers struggled to locate the mountain lion and one used a magnifying glass to achieve success.

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Understandable, considering that mountain lions, or cougars, are ambush predators that rely on stealth to catch prey.

Rio Mora, a week after its original post, shared more images captured by the same camera during a two-minute span. It includes the image used for the quiz and one that shows the mountain lion, clearly visible, following the elk (posted below).

Mountain lion after it had emerged from hiding

The images, which would be helpful if you haven’t already spotted the mountain lion, provide a clearer picture of this predator-prey interaction.

Stated Rio Mora in its description: “The entire photo series is over a two minute period. Unfortunately, it does not tell us the final fate of the elk, but it may answer questions a few of you had.

“You can see that based on the size and antlers it is a male juvenile Rocky Mountain elk that is stalked by a stealthy mountain lion.

“We have asked people who have worked with mountain lions to see if they could tell us anything more about the sex or age of the mountain lion. It is difficult to say for certain, because mountain lions do not have very distinctive features between sexes, but it could be a young adult male.”

Mountain lion in stealth mode

Some followers were stumped even after viewing the image series. Among the comments was this from Judy Hammond:

“And that’s why we have our 6th sense, that gut feeling that we’re being watched or stalked. Always pay attention to your surroundings, especially if the hair on the back of your neck goes up.”

–Images courtesy of Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge

Woman, dog attacked by cougar along California highway

A woman who stopped alongside a California highway to walk her dog became involved in a harrowing ordeal in which she and the dog were attacked by a mountain lion.

A woman who stopped alongside a California highway Monday to walk her dog became involved in a harrowing ordeal in which she fought valiantly to try to save her dog from a mountain lion attack.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife late Tuesday issued a news release explaining that the attack on the woman and dog occurred along State Route 299 in Trinity County.

The unidentified woman had pulled over near a picnic area and had begun to walk on a path, with her Belgian Malinois just ahead of her, when the mountain lion, or cougar, swiped its paw across her left shoulder.

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The woman screamed and the dog returned to confront the mountain lion, which bit the dog’s head and maintained a vice-like grip despite the woman hurling rocks at the cougar.

“The woman attempted to throw rocks, tug and pull them apart, and even attempted to gouge the eyes out of the lion, to no avail,” the CDFW stated in the news release.

The woman ran to the highway and flagged down a motorist, who sprayed the mountain lion with pepper spray. But that did not work.

When the mountain lion began to drag the dog from the trail, the woman and the passerby struck the cat with a PVC pipe, and the cat released its grip.

The dog was treated by a veterinarian and as of Tuesday night the extent of its injuries was unclear. The woman drove herself to a hospital in Redding, where she was treated for non-life-threatening bite wounds and scratches.

The CDFW stated that while “appropriate samples” were still being analyzed, interviews with the victim, passerby, veterinarian and physician appeared sufficient for officials to treat their investigation as a “legitimate attack.”

–Mountain lion image is generic

Rare Yellowstone cougar encounter caught on video

An ecotour company that operates in Yellowstone National Park has captured extremely rare footage of an active cougar.

An ecotour company that operates in Yellowstone National Park has captured extremely rare footage of an active cougar.

“Low quality video but a high quality sighting!” Yellowstone Wolf Tracker boasted Sunday via Instagram. “Today many of us were graced with a rare sighting of a very elusive predator; the mountain lion!”

The footage, captured from a distance, briefly shows a large cougar, or mountain lion, gazing in one direction before walking lazily out of the frame.

The park estimates the cougar population at between 34 and 42 animals, mostly in the northern range. Other cougars may enter the park seasonally. (Yellowstone National Park encompasses nearly 3,500 square miles.)

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The animals are considered phantom-like because they’re so rarely encountered.

Cougars prey mostly on deer and young elk, but also small mammals such as marmots.

According to the park’s website, bears and wolves sometimes displace cougars from their kills, and wolves sometimes kill adult cougars and cougar kittens.

The park states that “very few documented confrontations between cougars and humans have occurred in Yellowstone.”

–Cougar image is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Watch: Hiker turns around, sees charging cougar, has seconds to react

Hiker coming face-to-face with an aggressive mountain lion acts on “primal instinct” to thwart an attack on a trail near Los Angeles.

Dutch Faro was hiking near Pyramid Lake north of Los Angeles recently when he caught movement in his peripheral vision, prompting him to turn around. When he did, he came face-to-face with a charging mountain lion.

“When I turned around and really got a look at it, I could tell it was a … cougar,” Faro told the Sacramento Bee.

With seconds to react, Faro yelled “hey” and then acted on “primal instinct.”

“I went back thousands of years and just let out a caveman roar,” he told the Bee. “I’m glad it worked; I could have been in the hospital right now.”

At first, he thought it might be a dog running off leash but reality set in quickly. Once he stood his ground and roared, the cougar hurried for cover.

Faro told NBC Los Angeles he believes it was a mountain lion cub and he worried the mother was nearby.

“People are asking me, ‘did your life flash before your eyes?’” Faro told the Bee. “I didn’t have time for my life to flash before my eyes — I had to think on my feet.”

And think fast. He did the right thing in stopping and standing his round.

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The California Department of Fish and Wildlife  has several tips to help keep you safe in lion country, among them are:

  • Do not hike, bike, or jog alone. Stay alert on trails.
  • Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active – dawn, dusk, and at night.
  • Keep a close watch on small children.
  • Off leash dogs on trails are at increased risk of becoming prey for a mountain lion.
  • Never approach a mountain lion. Give them an escape route.
  • DO NOT RUN. Stay calm. Running may trigger chase, catch and kill response. Do not turn your back. Face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms, or opening your jacket if wearing one; throw rocks or other objects. Pick up small children.
  • Do not crouch down or bend over. Squatting puts you in a vulnerable position of appearing much like a 4-legged prey animal.
  • Be vocal; however, speak calmly and do not use high pitched tones or high pitch screams.
  • If a lion attacks, fight back. Research on mountain lion attacks suggests that many potential victims have fought back successfully with rocks, sticks, garden tools, even an ink pen or bare hands. Try to stay on your feet. If knocked down, try to protect head and neck.

Woman stalked by cougar terrified, but holds ground; video

A woman who was stalked by a cougar Friday in Southern California was shaking with fear during a tense confrontation that “felt like an eternity.”

A woman who was stalked by a cougar Friday in Southern California acknowledged shaking with fear during a tense confrontation that “felt like an eternity.”

But Rachel de Vlugt knew better than to run and was thankful to have been with a companion who helped prevent the harrowing situation from escalating.

“Thank God Mark was there because I think I would have taken off running, which is obviously the worst thing you can do,” de Vlugt stated on Facebook after the evening encounter in Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon.

De Vlugt and Mark Girardeau were checking motion-sensor cameras on remote trails when an adult female cougar, or mountain lion, charged toward them and paused behind bushes only 20 feet away. (See video below.)

Girardeau’s video shows the cougar eyeing both hikers intently as he yells repeatedly in an attempt to keep the predator at bay: “Get back! Get back, mountain lion!”

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In de Vlugt’s video clip, Girardeau predicts that the cougar will follow as they slowly back away. The cat, indeed, continues its close-range vigil.

Cougar named Uno. Photo: Mark Girardeau

De Vlugt acknowledges “shaking” but she and Girardeau maintain their composure, never turning away from the cougar until it retreats after two excruciatingly long minutes.

De Vlugt, a personal trainer, told FTW Outdoors that she has jogged on area trails for years and had never spotted a cougar. “Although I knew it was a possibility, I never expected it to actually happen,” she said.

Of resisting the impulse to run, potentially triggering an attack, she said, “Everyone knows how to tell you how you’re supposed to act in those situations, but nobody knows how difficult it is to execute when you’re actually faced with it.”

Cougar named Uno passes trail-cam. Photo: Mark Girardeau

Mountain lions in California prey largely on mule deer, which they stalk and ambush. Girardeau and de Vlugt spotted several deer minutes before the cougar sighting.

Girardeau, who runs the Orange County Outdoors website and shares trail-cam footage with researchers, initially thought the cougar was a male nicknamed Toro. A researcher informed him, however, that the animal is an older female named Uno.

–Images showing a cougar named Uno are courtesy of Mark Girardeau

‘Get back, mountain lion!’ Tense encounter caught on video

A photographer who monitors trail cameras in Southern California mountain lion habitat experienced a dangerously close encounter with one of the predators on Friday.

A photographer who monitors trail cameras in the Southern California wilderness experienced a dangerously close mountain lion encounter on Friday.

Mark Girardeau, who was hiking with Rachel de Vlugt in Orange County’s Trabuco Canyon,  shared footage of their 5 p.m. encounter via Instagram.

Girardeau told FTW Outdoors that he and de Vlugt had just checked  a few cameras when he saw the mountain lion run up a hill and stop to watch them from perhaps 20 feet away.

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In the footage the male mountain lion, or cougar, peers intently through bushes and does not flinch as Girardeau repeatedly yells, “Get back!” in an attempt to keep the animal at bay.

As they slowly back away, the cat briefly follows.

Girardeau’s Instagram description reads: “I think there are two things that could have caused this: either he has a kill nearby and he was defending it or he ran up not realizing we were humans since he couldn’t completely see us from down below.

“There were deer in the area that we saw so he probably assumed it was them.”

Mountain lions in Southern California prey largely on mule deer, which they stalk and ambush.

Girardeau wrote: “Mountain lions do not predate on humans and this is why it’s good to hold your ground because any prey item for mountain lions runs away. If you don’t do this, the mountain lion is not going to assume you are prey.”

Girardeau, whose social media feeds contains cougar footage captured by motion-sensor cameras, told FTW Outdoors that about two minutes passed before the cougar stopped following them.

–Image courtesy of Mark Girardeau