Another Mountain Lion Attack

[Red Hawk]

I saw this is today's newspaper. This is kinda spooky because this is in an area where I go camping at. One of the hospitals the victim was flown to was here in Bakersfield.


An Santa Monica woman remained in the hospital sunday, a day after she was mauled by an mountain lion north of Kernvill Saturday evening. It was about 6:15 p.m. when Shannon Parker, 27, was attacked. She had been hiking about 25 miles north of Kerrnville, in the Johnsondale Bridge area of Tulare County. Such attacks are rare. Parker's case was just the 15th recorded attack in California since 1890. Three of those 15 attacks have occured in the last six months. Parker had walked away from two friends and her boyfriend when a mountain lion attacked her, according to Steve Martarano, of the state department of Fish and Game. After hearing her screams, her friends---Jason Quirino, 30, of Beverly Hills, and Ben Aaron Marsh, 15, of Los Angeles--threw stones at the lion. Parker's boyfriend, Mathias Maciejewski 28, of Los Angeles, stabbed the lion with a knife to get it off her. Then all three helper her to a site that an ambulance could access, said Brian Naslund, Lietutenant with the Fish and Game Department. The mountain lion was later tracked down and shot by fish and game officers. Parker was transported to Lake Isabella by ambulance then flown to Kern Medical Center (that is the one here in bakersfield). Late Saturday Night, she was tranfered to UCLA Medical Center. On sunday, Parker spend most of the day in reconstructiontive surgery at UCLA and had lost her right eye said, said Nathanial Arnold, lieutanent with the Fish and Game Deparment. Parker also reportedly had three deep cuts to her thigh, Martarano said. Her family told hospital officials to not release any information on her conditition, said Rachel Shampeau, hospital spokeswoman.
In January, a mountain lion mauled two people in seprate attacks at an Orange County Wilderness park. Bike rider Mark Rynolds, 35, was killed and Anne Hjelle, 30, was rescused by her cycling partner, who held onto her legs, and other mountain bikers who threw rocks at the mountain lion. Hjelle was hospitalized for weeks and likely will require several surgeries in the years ahead. Fish and Game Depart. senior wildlife biologist Douglas Updike said he can't give an definite reason for the lastest attack. Parker was attacked in an part of Sequoia National Forest in Upper Kern Canyon that is populated with deer, an primary prey for mountain lions, Updike said (cant hunt out there) With an average of five to seven mountain lions in a 100-square-mile area, the competiition for food could have left the young female lion emaciated and caused it to attack Parker, he said. "There's a lot of difficulty in answering why this would happen." Updike said.
A common thread between Parker's encounter and other cases of mountain lion attacks is that Parker was alone, he said. Larger groups are safer, he said. For hikers who do come face to face with mountain lions, Updike recommended they stand up straight, make noise and appear at large as possibile. People dont need to be too concerned about attacks by mountain lions, as they are usually weary of humans, Updike said. "If mountain lions had people on their menu, there would literally be thousands of people consumed each week." He said. The lion's body was transported to Fresno, where it will be tested over the new few days for diseases, including rabies. After Parker was attacked, fish and game officers found the injured lion on a narrow, windy, steep trail, Naslund said. They could see that its injuries matched the description from Parker's friends, including two stab wounds on the lion's right shoulder. When the officers shot the lion, they fired multiple guns shots, killing it, Naslund said. The lion dind appear to have cubs, Updike said, as it wasn't lactating. The disease testing on the cat could tak several days, he said.

This is the second time a local mountain lion has made the news in recent weeks. Two cyclist recently reported spotting mountain lions on the Kern River Bike Path southwest of Bakersfield*


* There are alot of lynx's out there so more then likely they spotted those but it could have very well been an Mountain Lion.

[Aught Six]

Such attacks are rare. Parker's case was just the 15th recorded attack in California since 1890. Three of those 15 attacks have occured in the last six months.

We wouldn't want to tell the enviromentalists to stuff it and admit that California has a growing problem, now would we? How many people are going to die in the near future before Fish & Game takes a pro-active approach?

[8x8bull]

thats the way people are around here. people have already died from mountain lion attacks and they STILL havent changed there mind.

[Red Hawk]

I think after awhile, maybe, they allow special hunts but i am just guessing. I think it is pretty sad as well. I dont like hearing about attacks but until we are allowed to hunt, if we ever are, the lions are just going to keep on getting away with murder at times literally.

[bigbulls]

"There's a lot of difficulty in answering why this would happen." Updike said.

OOH OOH OOH............ I know why. It's because no one is allowed to hunt them any more because they are too cutsey wootsey and killing an animal so pretty is unimaginable.[&:][&:][&:]

the lions are just going to keep on getting away with murder at times literally.

Lets not hunt them for ten or twenty years and hopefully the lions will eventually kill off all of the jerk off, ajenda wanting, tree hugging, vegetable eating, gun hating, pillow biting, liberals idiots that live there.

Present company excluded of course.

[oldelkhunter]

Vegans must taste like Mule Deer and can't run as fast.