Rather you than me-ow.
Check out this smartphone video of a tense stand-off between a lone mountain biker and a mountain lion who doesn’t really want to go away.
And you thought it was bad enough when you have to tiptoe around the back-end of a belligerent cow that’s on your path.
The first twenty seconds or so are a bit Blair Witch rushing-ground-blurriness but they you get to see what the problem is… “Hey Mr Mountain Lion, how ya doin’?”
Mountain lions are present in the Sierra, but encounters with them are rare. In fact in all my life being in the area in the Western and Eastern Sierra, I've never seen one. If you do encounter a mountain lion please remember some simple rules and it might save your life or major injury. 1. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RUN AWAY! If you run away you trigger the natural predator instinct to chase down prey and you are the prey. Running away is an immediate ringing of the dinner bell. 2. STAND TALL AND CREATE AS BIG A PROFILE AS POSSIBLE. Standing tall, standing on a downed tree, putting your hands in the air anything to create as big a presence of possible can intimate a lion. Lions like all predators are looking for easy food, not food that is going to fight back. 3. MAKE NOISE. Noise is a good way of intimidating a lion. Lions are seeking food, usually easy food, that doesn't fight back or seem strange, so making noise while moving sideways slowly away from the lion is a good idea. 4. BE READY! As in this video you saw the lion move off and it was almost like it was gone, but it was circling him and sizing him up. Even if you don't see the lion anymore, never let down your guard until you are certain you are in a safe area.5. IF YOU ARE ATTACKED, FIGHT BACK! It may seem like a no brainer, but for some reason people want to cover their face and go into a fetal position. Not a good idea. Take hands and stick your fingers directly into its eyes. Hit it as hard and as often as you can in the ribs and neck as if your life depends on it, because it does. Remember wildlife are not use to prey fighting back, they are use to one bite one kill, but you're not the normal prey and while you will suffer injury no doubt, you might stay alive.
Posted by HWY49 Adventures on Tuesday, April 18, 2017
This isn’t the first time we’ve reported on mountain lions and mountain bikers not seeing eye to eye.
Helpful advice from HWT49 Adventures
“Mountain lions are present in the Sierra, but encounters with them are rare. In fact in all my life being in the area in the Western and Eastern Sierra, I’ve never seen one. If you do encounter a mountain lion please remember some simple rules and it might save your life or major injury.”
1. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RUN AWAY! If you run away you trigger the natural predator instinct to chase down prey and you are the prey. Running away is an immediate ringing of the dinner bell.
2. STAND TALL AND CREATE AS BIG A PROFILE AS POSSIBLE. Standing tall, standing on a downed tree, putting your hands in the air anything to create as big a presence of possible can intimate a lion. Lions like all predators are looking for easy food, not food that is going to fight back.
3. MAKE NOISE. Noise is a good way of intimidating a lion. Lions are seeking food, usually easy food, that doesn’t fight back or seem strange, so making noise while moving sideways slowly away from the lion is a good idea.
4. BE READY! As in this video you saw the lion move off and it was almost like it was gone, but it was circling him and sizing him up. Even if you don’t see the lion anymore, never let down your guard until you are certain you are in a safe area.
5. IF YOU ARE ATTACKED, FIGHT BACK! It may seem like a no brainer, but for some reason people want to cover their face and go into a fetal position. Not a good idea. Take hands and stick your fingers directly into its eyes. Hit it as hard and as often as you can in the ribs and neck as if your life depends on it, because it does. Remember wildlife are not use to prey fighting back, they are use to one bite one kill, but you’re not the normal prey and while you will suffer injury no doubt, you might stay alive.