Here's an article I just read on MSN today. Why can't anyone see in CA that there is a problem?
LAKE FOREST, Calif. - A mountain lion thought to have killed a bicyclist and critically mauled another in a California wilderness area was shot and killed by authorities late Thursday.
The 2-year-old male cat, which weighed about 110 pounds, was to be taken to a laboratory where a necropsy will be performed.
?We are pretty confident that this lion was responsible for the attack (on the bikers),? said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the California Fish and Game Department.
One attack occurred shortly after 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park when a mountain lion pounced on a woman who was riding a bicycle with her friend.
?This guy would not let go. He had a hold of her face.?
? Debbie Nichols
Friend of victim
The lion grabbed Ann Hjelle, 30, by her head and began dragging her. Her friend, Debi Nichols, began screaming for help and grabbed the victim?s legs in a struggle to free her.
?This mountain lion jumped on her back and started dragging her,? Nichols said. ?He dragged us down ... about 100 yards into the brush and I just kept screaming. This guy would not let go. He had a hold of her face.?
Bikers throw rocks
Several other mountain bikers responded, throwing rocks at the animal until it fled.
Hjelle was flown by helicopter to a hospital, where she remained in critical condition Friday.
After the attack, the body of an unidentified man in his 30s was found at the top of a trail, near an unattended bicycle. Authorities couldn't confirm if the man was killed by the mountain lion. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.
?We don't know how long he's been out there,? said Orange County Fire Capt. Stephen Miller. ?But it's pretty obvious that an animal was involved in this (death).?
Previous attacks
Including Thursday?s incident, there have been 13 mountain lion attacks on humans in California over the past 114 years, said Doug Updike, a biologist with the state Fish and Game Department. In those cases, there were five fatalities, he said.
Last September, game wardens shot and wounded an aggressive mountain lion spotted near an equestrian center in San Juan Capistrano. The lion was later found and killed, state officials said.
In 1986, 5-year-old Laura Small was attacked while looking for tadpoles with her mother in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park in Orange County.
The girl?s mother was able to rescue her daughter, whose skull was partially crushed by the mountain lion?s jaws. She was left blind in one eye and paralyzed on her right side.
Months later, a 6-year-old boy was mauled in the same park. County supervisors closed most of the park to children for nearly a decade. The ban was lifted in December 1997.
Three years later, a state law was passed prohibiting people from hunting or killing mountain lions.
The threat of mountain lions has become an increasing problem in Southern California as development encroaches upon rural areas that have been home to various animals.
Updike estimates there are between 4,000 and 6,000 adult lions roaming the Golden State, with usually five to seven mountain lions per 100 square miles. Still, he said the chances of being attacked are extremely rare.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Even if the odds are considered extremely rare, it's becoming more likely every day. I hope Arnold recognizes there's a problem and starts whoopin' some ass!
EG
