{"id":6578,"date":"2020-10-23T07:15:41","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T14:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=6578"},"modified":"2025-04-26T16:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:31:18","slug":"a-worthy-refresher-mountain-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=6578","title":{"rendered":"A Worthy Refresher: Mountain Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mountain lions are having quite the news year in 2020. From a mountain lion kitten called Captain Cal<\/span><\/strong><\/a> being rescued by a firefighter in the Zogg fire to the 6-minute dramatic saga of a trail runner in Utah<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0encountering a mountain lion family\u00a0on a trail (NSFW: the link to original video contains profanity), it’s a solid reminder that chances are you live, visit, or recreate somewhere in their habitat. <\/span>
\n<\/span>In case you missed it, the Utah trail runner first came across the kittens (or cubs) and was immediately met by the mother mountain lion who instictively became assertive and aggressive in order to put some distance\u00a0between her kittens and this present “danger” (the trail runner). <\/span>
\n<\/span>While this story ends well for all (the trail runner is ok and the mother mountain lion\u00a0will be left alone), it’s a great time to brush up on how to recreate responsibly\u00a0in mountain lion country and what to do if you encounter one of these magical creatures. If hiking with small children or pets be sure to keep them close to you. If you see a mountain lion – pick them up or call them over next to you.
\n1. Make and maintain eye contact.<\/span><\/strong>
\n2. Try to look larger.<\/span><\/strong> Hold your bag\u00a0or jacket over your head and wave your arms slowly) – don’t crouch or bend over.
\n3. Speak loudly and back away slowly.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>
\n4. Hold your ground.<\/span><\/strong> If\u00a0the mountain lion approaches you, hold your ground, look intimidating, and throw things (rocks, branches, or other things you can reach without bending over) toward, not at,\u00a0the mountain lion.
\n5. Escalation.<\/span><\/strong> If the mountain lion continues to approach escalate the hostility and throw things directly at the mountain lion.
\n6. If\u00a0a mountain lion attacks.<\/span><\/strong> When in this position, do everything in your power to fight back!\u00a0(Also seriously consider buying a lottery ticket as it’s\u00a0statistically way more likely that you’ll win a lottery\u00a0jackpot (1 in about 3 million odds) than get attacked by a mountain lion (1 in a billion+ odds)).\u00a0<\/span>
\n<\/span>Mountain lions can be found in the western United States but their populations have decreased significantly from historical numbers due to\u00a0hunting and habitat loss.\u00a0While most people will likely never be lucky enough to see one while visiting\u00a0wilderness areas, never forget we’re vistors in their<\/span><\/em> home. Know before you go, review what to do in case you encounter one,\u00a0and enjoy your time outside. (Photo credit: USFS)<\/span>
\n<\/span>\"\"<\/a>MORE INFORMATION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mountain lions are having quite the news year in 2020. From a mountain lion kitten called Captain Cal being rescued by a firefighter in the Zogg fire to the 6-minute dramatic saga of a trail runner in Utah\u00a0encountering a mountain lion family\u00a0on a trail (NSFW: the link to original video contains profanity), it’s a solid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6581,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6578\/revisions\/6581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}