We seek to escape each other by living and playing closer to nature, and nature bites back.īut David Baron's book "The Beast in the Garden" suggests a more disturbing explanation, beyond humans' ever-deeper expansion into prime puma country. Why are more mountain lions coming to see us as just another flavor of meat? With suburban sprawl edging closer to what's left of the ever-shrinking wilderness, it's tempting to cast such attacks as an inevitable, if grisly, consequence. Nine of those 14 mountain lion attacks have taken place since 1992. Since 1890, there have only been 14 attacks by mountain lions on humans verified in California, according to the state's Department of Fish and Game.īut it's getting less rare. Responding to the gruesome news, wildlife officials stressed that it's extremely rare for a mountain lion to attack full-grown, healthy adult humans in broad daylight for food. (The terms "mountain lion," "cougar," "puma," "catamount" and "panther" all refer to the same New World feline carnivore, known to biologists as Felis concolor.) Another mountain biker riding in the same wilderness area that afternoon barely escaped the 110-pound cougar, when other cyclists fought off the cat as it clutched her head in its jaws. The competitive cyclist's mauled corpse was found partially buried under sand, cached for later feeding. 8, at around noon, a mountain lion killed and ate a 35-year-old biker at the Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in Orange County, Calif., just half a mile from the nearest suburban home.
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