It’s the kind of nightmare state of affairs each Southern California hiker fears — you’re strolling alone on a path when immediately, a mountain lion seems on the trail.
However for Cortney Rasura final week, that nightmare turned actuality.
In a wild video shared on Instagram, Rasura captured two moments when a mountain lion got here onto her climbing path, and at one level, gave the impression to be headed straight towards her.
“No!” she repeatedly yelled on the cat. “No, go away!”
Rasura encountered the mountain lion on July 3 on Gridley path in Los Padres Nationwide Forest, she stated in an interview with KTLA. After making a number of steps towards her, the mountain lion diverts from the path and bounds up the hillside. You may hear Rasura’s aid within the video as she mutters, “thanks!”
Rasura instructed the station that she’s an skilled hiker, and knew to take care of eye contact with the cat and never run away.
The California Division of Fish and Wildlife encourages folks to take steps to keep away from mountain lion encounters, akin to climbing in teams, not climbing at daybreak, nightfall or nighttime and holding meals saved correctly. However in an unplanned encounter, Rasura took a number of of the company’s advisable steps, together with staying calm, not working away and making loud noises.
The company additionally recommends attempting to look greater, if potential, and warns folks to by no means method the massive cat or crouch down.
In response to the CDFW, there have been a dozen mountain lion assaults on people within the final decade in California, one deadly. Even nonetheless, the company stated such assaults stay fairly uncommon, as people are 1,000 instances extra more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion.
