A trail camera in Southern California has captured surreal footage showing a mountain lion following a coyote into the darkness and returning minutes later with dinner.
A trail camera in Southern California has captured surreal footage showing a mountain lion pursuing a coyote into the darkness and returning minutes later with the coyote in its jaws.
Jason Andes, who owns the camera, states in the accompanying footage that the coyote walked past the camera at 10:15 p.m. on a recent night in eastern Orange County.
The mountain lion, or cougar, passed in the same direction 12 minutes later. It then passed the camera in the opposite direction 20 minutes later with a freshly killed coyote.
If there were cries by the coyote, they are not heard in the footage.
Andes wrote on YouTube:
“This Coyote met his fate after a Mountain lion was close behind. Mountain lions kill and eat Coyotes on a pretty regular basis.
“Mule Deer are their main prey, but Coyotes are not far behind. This is nature and a great look at how prey and predator have interactions.”
The footage was captured in Black Star Canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains.
The canyon is popular among hikers and mountain bikers, but at night its trails are utilized by nocturnal predators and prey.
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!”
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
