Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Agressive Mountain Lion shot in California

The public reported an agressive Mountain lion and a Department of Fish and Wildlife Warden and Orange County Sheriff deputies responded. They found the cat near the trail and tried to scare it away. Then when it displayed aggression it was shot.

Does this make sense?

Cat

BY ELYSSE JAMES / STAFF WRITER
Published: March 31, 2014 Updated: April 1, 2014 12:14 p.m.
TRABUCO CANYON � Officials shot and killed an aggressive mountain lion that had been stalking a family walking a trail near Foothill Ranch Elementary School on Sunday in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, state wildlife officials said Monday.
A Mission Viejo resident, Madison Smith, and her two children were walking on Borrego Trail on Sunday evening when the mountain lion came within about 6 feet of her 5-year-old son � close enough to pounce.
The young mountain lion was close enough for the family to hear it making hissing sounds, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan said.
�A mountain lion came up behind them and was acting very aggressively,� Hughan said. �The lion made several moves toward the family.�
Another hiker on the trail shouted at the lion and threw rocks at it, Hughan said. The family got away from the mountain lion and called 911.
Orange County sheriff�s deputies and a California Department of Fish and Wildlife game warden found the mountain lion in a grove of bushes a few feet away from the Borrego Trail about 5 p.m. Sunday. They tried to scare the animal away; instead, it acted aggressively toward the officers, Hughan said.
�The lion showed no fear whatsoever, which is a very dangerous situation,� Hughan said. The game warden shot and killed the lion.
The body of the 1-year-old, 60-pound animal was taken for examination to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife lab in San Bernardino. Officials will examine whether the mountain lion had a disease that may have prompted its aggression, said UC Davis Wildlife Health Center Associate Veterinarian Winston Vickers, the lead veterinarian on the Southern California Puma Project, which tracks the behaviors and habitats of mountain lions.
�Normally, we would not have expected the animal to have yet left its mother, so it does make one wonder if there was an issue there that could have led the animal to behave abnormally,� Vickers said. �But we do not know that.�
A mountain lion was seen in the same area of the park in February, Hughan said.
Mountain lion attacks are rare but do occur yearly in North America, Vickers said. The most recent mountain lion-related human death statewide was in January 2004 in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park.
�It�s unfortunate when there are these kinds of incidents,� Hughan said. �The animals are always going to be the ones to lose. We don�t relocate problem animals. If the lion did this once, he�ll do it again.�

How unconscionable. If they would have thrown that cat just a few kids everything would have been just fine. But no, they murdered it.

Yes, it makes sense, considering people have been killed by cats near there. I interviewed a biologist several years ago who did a collar-tracking study of mountain lions in that area and here is the basic upshot: These cats are squeezed for territory. The very young and old will often live on the fringes of civilization, making a living off cats and dogs and such. Every six months or so they strike out and patrol the entire range, looking to establish their own territory. They either succeed, are killed by other cats, or go back to living in the equivalent of a telephone booth.

They should have tranquillized it and removed its claws and its teeth.

Game management by Hollyweird. It feels good.

What are the odds? I'll bet that CDFW officer used illegal bullets to gun down that innocent lion before his prime. Seems to me that lion should have been given the benefit of the doubt until there were claw and teeth marks on some Californian sorry ass. Few less Californians are no loss. Magnum Man

My point is does it make sense to try and scare the cat away rather than shoot it immediately.

No it doesn't make sense. Why did they try to scare it away instead of just shooting it to begin with.

They should all be protected, except when they are encroched upon and need to find a meal. Then...blast the fuggers to death to protect the granola crunchers.

In the last 3 deer seasons, at least 2 mountain lions have been shot by hunters in self defense in Nebraska as the hunters were being stalked. Don't know how many SSS instances there were, obviously.

Nebraska had it's first mountain lion season this year, where all of 2 mountain lions were killed.

Omaha politicians immediately made it a priority to ban all future mountain lion hunts in Nebraska due to the public uproar from tree huggers about how these poor kitties are being hunted unnecessarily - AND WITH DOGS EVEN!!!! This bill passed the Unicameral easily.

Governor vetoed it, thankfully.

There are morons out there everywhere.

This is exactly my point.

A released pet that got too big and mean to keep maybe?

More likely momma became red road paint.

Years ago in SE Neb there were a few sighting and tracks found. We found tracks on our farm.. The game dep said oh it is just a large bobcat..or mangy coyote...they denied the existence of big cats till somone finally killed one..

Isn't it doggone near impossible for a hiker in California to carry a handgun for defense against four (or two) legged critters?

That whole thing about the lion getting so close to a kid, then being driven off by rocks... Doesn't fly in my world. Come after my kid, catch a bullet...

Guy

Of course my youngest is now 22 and carries his own doggone .45 while prowling the hills here. I don't know if I could beat him on the shot or not anymore...

When I was stationed in SoCal, I would only go hiking on NF lands (Cleveland NF), so I could legally carry a sidearm.

Maybe that has changed in CA too, I don't know, it's been 14 years since I was there.

You think people will be standing in line waiting to pay homage to your sorry ass after it assumes room temp? I doubt it. One less Magnum Man would be no loss either.

If you are not on Federal Park land you can carry a gun. Just like any other state in the country. Sheez.

Of course the liberal cidiots there are not the sort that realize they are out in the wild.

Thanks for the info. I'd heard something different, about even open carry of a pistol being illegal now, in California.

Wasn't sure.

Regards, Guy