Ranger is wrong about number of deaths. Didn’t include the child killed in Southern California in the 1970s. Body was never found after mountain lion instantly took the child. I read that the child was walking slightly ahead of the parents

About the trail name, forty years ago, i heard the trail was called wildcat loop tail because it was the trail used by mountain lions

There is a very simple to see pattern in the last 3 attacks in our area:

*A small child is walking slightly ahead of the adults at the time of attack.

If you are walking with small kids in Mountain Lion Country (Yes, that's EXACTLY what Rancho is) they should be right at your side, always.
Same goes for any leashed pets where allowed.

Young lions try new things, esp when very hungry. A small child seems very tempting and available when away from adults, so they try it. Immediately the adults jump in, the lion has a "Oh @#$%" moment, leaves the child and quickly runs away. That has been the pattern of at least 3 recent encounters.

Rancho is not a sanitized area like golf courses or city parks. It is land filled with risks and animals capable of killing you.
Simple precautions allow us to be on that land with very minimal risk, but as we clearly see now, if your small child is not basically at your hip, the risks are greatly increased. Walking with a few good sized rocks in your pocket is also smart.

The recent attacks would have not happened if the kids were very close to adults. It's not the parents fault, though. It's not something that people truly understand, so I think a big communication push by the land stewards in the area to educate the public about the very real dangers is needed. Something more than the current signs, aimed specifically at parents of small kids, which is the highest risk demographic. I really don't think people understand how well a lion can hide and how quickly they can strike.

Why doesn't the Open Space District enlist experienced game hunters to hunt the offending lion rather than using cameras and other devices that seem to rely on passive chance rather than proactive hunt and immobilize?

Agree with roaksinki...eom

They usually contract with experienced people who use dogs to find them then euthanize.
You don't understand the full picture if you think they just use passive means. It's such a rare event, though, that most people don't know this.

Let the mountain lion be. These calls to hunt and kill the mountain lion are asinine. Parents need to be more aware when they are hiking in Rancho with children.

The problem is mountain lion population is too large. When was the last time anyone saw a herd of deer near the old seminary? Or even a bunch of jack rabbits? That’s also not good for fire safety because it causes fuel build up that lead to ladder fires that burn down forests

I kind of agree with Mario.
Why euthanize this mountain lion? They are predators and that is how they survive.
They should not be killed for attacking a prey. It is up to the people hiking the area to understand that they are at risk, and that they are in a wilderness area, where dangerous animals live.It is not the humans home, but the animals that inhabit the area. This is the same in Alaska and Montana with grizzlies. You are in someone else's territory and you need to assume the risk.

If we euthanize one mountain lion, why not euthanize all of them and make the area safe ? I know some will say that its a "rogue" lion, but it is not. They will all attack a human depending on the situation. I don't think this ML should be hunted down.
I do know the population is increasing in many areas, so there should be active studies on the population.

Wait till the wolves get reintroduced.

I see more deer and turkeys in Rancho than anywhere. Dozens at a time almost every visit, at least once per week. I can';t recall a time I've been there and NOT seen piles of deer.
You need a better hike, or at least get out in the morning!
If you're serious I can show you myself any day of the week. Let me know.
Also, false narratives are just that.

When you say "This is the same in Alaska and Montana with grizzlies."
Speaking as someone who lived outside Anchorage for 12 years,
I agree that they do a good job of teaching bear awareness, but they also will kill any bear that regularly become aggressive with humans, and they will QUICKLY kill a bear that actually attacks.

Here's the thing, most bears and lions have a healthy fear of humans. A wild animal that crosses over and attacks a human is never tolerated. It is rare, most all bears and lions will run from humans most every time. The ones that lose that fear will always be a real threat and should be removed. It's not normal "animals just being animals", it's actually abnormal.

Can you quit killing our mountain lions

Did anyone check to see if she was the lion with cubs? Isn’t this when they are likely to attack?

It was a cub-less 2-4 year old 70lb female. Undersized, likely struggling so it crossed over and tried to take a human out of desperation. This was a broken animal. It is NOT just a lion being a lion. Lions very rarely attack humans, but we can entice the most desperate ones to attack by dangling small unattended children in front of them.

Still, one they cross the line and try to take a human as prey, it must be destroyed. The population is strong. At only 70lbs mid winter that cat was likely looking to a more painful death from starvation or illness in a few months. The cat population is very healthy in our hills so this should not affect that.

There seem to be a lot of missing details. First, necropsy results will give an exact weight, not 60-70lbs. The exact location was not identified. Some areas are wide open space and others close to the shrubs. It is unclear to me how an "attack" will only leave minor injuries to a small child, that would require an adult to punch the lion in the ribs to retreat. Earlier reports was that is was confirmed by DNA to be a mountain lion, but the news stories were still listing it as a 100(some stories 160) lbs. male. The DNA confirmation would have cleared up the sex question early in the week. The public deserves better information after a 5 day shutdown of the park.

Latest news confirms FEMALE cat's DNA matched up to the girl's wounds. They had to pick it up so I trust they can give a fair estimate of it's weight:
Web Link

Similarly, a child was "plucked" off trail in Pitchetti Ranch by a cat and sustained only minor injuries.
It's consistent with a smaller desperate cat making an attempt to grab a kid then very quickly releasing it once confronted by adult humans.
It likely transpired over a matter of 3-5 seconds, as consistent with previous attempts by smaller cats trying to take an unattended kid.

I completely agree with "Citizen" above, In fact, he/she basically wrote everything that I wanted to say. I would like to add that the first comment I made to myself when I discovered that this poor lioness had been euthanized: "I wonder if any caring human soul has been able to make a search as to whether there are any unattended cubs left behind". Unfortunately, I do not know much about Mountain Lions. Still, I cannot help but think and make my comment. Because we are living today in a disappearing world. It's so easy these days to start a snowball approach to getting rid of creatures that humans believe are in their way. This behavior, even over a short period of time, can lead to extinction. Go ahead... roll your eyes. Yes, I am one of THOSE. It is partly this type of behavior which has led our world to the mess that it is in. I believe that it is humans who bring the grief to the animals - by killing them for being who they (the animals) are - and to themselves for not taking total precaution when in someone else's (the Mountain Lion's) territory. Seems to me that children should be carried - or even not brought along at all - on hikes like this one. There are so many other places to take children and still commune with nature, without endangering nature itself by human presence.

There are reasons we don't manage our lands based on emotion or cuteness of animal.
I'm glad those who do know about lions are in charge and taking actions to protect human lives.

Why kill the animal?
If you go out in nature expect to encounter wildlife.

Please, keep your kids next to you in order to prevent death of mountain lions, these beautiful creatures.
I am very upset.
Probably, the lion would have never attacked a human again, because she was scared off and felt it was dangerous for her.


Still don't understand why they killed the lion instead of giving it to a zoo?

It's spelled out pretty clearly in the posts above about why they needed to euthanize this particular lion.
An animal trying to kill a human is VERY rare and it NOT NORMAL behavior.They would also euthanize a known aggressive coyote or bobcat if it went for a human. this is because it is the behavior of a BROKEN animal which poses real risk to human lives.

You cannot allow a specific animal KNOWN to attack humans to roam free and try it again, better next time. Normal mtn lions would never think about attacking a human and their populations are booming in this area. Very rarely, with thin this healthy population is a sick desperate animal who might try and kill a child. Once this is known, the safety of future children becomes more important than preserving the life of a single lion known to attack humans.
This is smart management despite what the Disney movie crowd says. This has always been the policy and again, our lion population has never been healthier in the past 100 years. With smart management, we have lots of lions, lots of visitors and very few issues of any human injury.

Mtn lions are very plentiful and I'm sure any zoo that wants one has them. A zoo that would take an undersized lion known to be aggressive with human children would be a very suspect zoo IMO.
In any event, the short answer to the zoo thing is that there simply aren't any that would take this animal. This one is like a rabid skunk...gotta put it down

Reply to A ZOO.

I didn't suggest to give it to a petting zoo, where the lion's aggressiveness to a child would matter.

And no, not every zoo around has a mountain lion.

Also, I am positive that some of them would take a FREE mountain lion.

Sometimes a simple move can get a great result.

OMG, you really don't know do you...only what you think in your head.
It's not like you've imagined things at all. Call some zoos, seriously, and ask about the future donation of a free underweight mtn lion that attacked someone. Good luck.

Rancho is not a park down the street from ur house. U r in there territory. Please stop getting so close to wildlife that it gets used to us. We r low on food chain. Carry mace,horn blowers,walking sticks to at least scare away any problem animals in order to keep our wild wild.

I am proposing that this place be renamed Dead Wildcat Loop Trail to raise public awareness about this horrible and preventable incident. Hope the hikers enjoy their new soulless, sterile, mountain lion free environment.

Natalie, take heart and don't let people talk you out of your instincts. Women have always been accused of being emotional when questioning injustice to wildlife. Women are fixers and nurturers, and choose life over death. Who are these people to say this animal couldn't be saved?

This is sad. It is is in their territory, so it doesn’t ‘have to be euthanized’. By going into their territory, these risks are given, and accepted. The lion didn’t do anything wrong, it was doing what it needed to do. The lion should just have been transported to a less trafficked area.

And even though we can’t do anything about this euthanizing process, we can help prevent these by keeping young kids next to us. DO NOT let them go away. Then we won’t have this problem in the first place.

I feel bad for the people who don't or won't understand the whole picture. I'm sorry your lack of understanding causes you sadness. I just wish you were capable of understanding so your heavy heart is healed.
Peace.