An Orange County park was temporarily shut down Tuesday after two people reported mountain lion sightings the day before.
In one of the incidents, a pair of cyclists filmed a mountain lion following them along a cliffside trail, behavior that wildlife officials described as unusual.
Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park will be closed until further notice “out of an abundance of caution,” OC Parks said in a statement.
Parks staff are working with researchers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and biologists at UC Davis’ Wildlife Health Center to better understand the mountain lion’s behavior, Danielle Kennedy, public information officer with OC Parks, said in an email. They plan to place cameras around the park to track the animal’s activity and look for evidence such as fresh tracks and scat, she said.
UC Davis biologists are also reviewing the video provided by one of the bikers, who reported the encounter to authorities, Kennedy said.
The video posted to Facebook on Monday shows the mountain lion emerging from the brush to follow the cyclists along the trail, which was flanked by a steep hill on one side and a steep drop-off on the other. The cougar continues advancing as the cyclists shout for it to get back. At one point, it pauses and watches them back away, then seemingly charges, jumping to the side of the trail just before it reaches them. ABC7 first reported on the video.
“This is super out-of-the-ordinary behavior,” said Cort Klopping, a Fish and Wildlife spokesperson. Pumas typically avoid people — to the point where a person is a thousand times more likely to be struck by lighting than attacked by a mountain lion, he said.
It’s unclear why the animal was so interested in the cyclists, Kennedy said. Some online commenters of the video speculated it was a mother attempting to escort the bicyclists away from her cubs. In February, researchers collared a female mountain lion in Orange County that had offspring at the time, Kennedy said. UC Davis biologists have confirmed this collared female was in Whiting Ranch on Monday, but it wasn’t clear whether she still had cubs with her, and the mountain lion captured on the video was not collared and was unknown to the biologists, Kennedy said.
Based on the video, UC Davis biologists believe the mountain lion — a juvenile of an undetermined gender — was displaying behavior related to curiosity, rather than acting defensively, Kennedy said. It is unclear whether the same mountain lion was involved in both sightings, she said.
Lindsay Velez, who lives in nearby Rancho Santa Margarita, said she ran into the two mountain bikers Monday as they exited the trail, which she was preparing to hike up with her 12-year-old daughter. They showed her the video and warned her away, she said.
Velez said she’s aware that mountain lions frequent the area: “I carry bear spray with me everywhere, and not for bears.” But it seems like there’s been an uptick of activity in the last week, she said, adding that a friend of hers reported seeing a mountain lion in the backyard of her home not far from Whiting Ranch the same night.
With its steep hillside and dense brush, the park in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains has a history of mountain lion activity. There have been three mountain lion attacks there since 2004, Kennedy said, including one that resulted in the death of Mark Reynolds, 35, who was mauled when he crouched down on a trail to fix his bicycle chain.
Still, Reynolds’ death was just the sixth on record in California, according to a Times report in its aftermath. Since then, one more death has been recorded — that of Taylen Robert Claude Brooks, 21, who was killed by a mountain lion while he was searching for deer antlers in northern El Dorado County last March.
Those who encounter a mountain lion should take care not to turn their back on it and should make themselves seem as large as possible by extending their arms and making a lot of noise, Klopping said. They should back away slowly, rather than run, and take care not to crouch or bend over, he said.
Pets should be kept on-leash so they don’t approach the animal, and small children should be held close, ideally up on an adult’s shoulders, he said. People should also make sure the animal has a clear escape route, he said.
People can reduce the risks of such encounters in areas prone to sightings by refraining from biking or jogging at dawn, dusk or nighttime, and it’s best to partake in those activities in groups, Klopping said.
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