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.)
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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.
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.”
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