Link

Great site with very useful information about wild animals in California. Here’s an excerpt about Mountain Lions.

You may be attracting mountain lions to your property without knowing it!

More than half of California is mountain lion habitat. Mountain lions generally exist wherever deer are found. They are solitary and elusive, and their nature is to avoid humans.

Mountain lions prefer deer but, if allowed, they also eat pets and livestock. In extremely rare cases, even people have fallen prey to mountain lions.

Mountain lions that threaten people are immediately killed. Those that prey on pets or livestock can be killed by a property owner after the required depredation permit is secured. Moving problem mountain lions is not an option. It causes deadly conflicts with other mountain lions already there. Or the relocated mountain lion returns.

Help prevent deadly conflicts with these beautiful wild animals.

Living in Mountain Lion Country

• Don’t feed deer; it is illegal in California and it will attract mountain lions.
• Deer-proof your landscaping by avoiding plants that deer like to eat. For tips, request A Gardener’s Guide to Preventing Deer Damage from DFG offices.
• Trim brush to reduce hiding places for mountain lions.
• Don’t leave small children or pets outside unattended.
• Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.
• Provide sturdy, covered shelters for sheep, goats, and other vulnerable animals.
• Don’t allow pets outside when mountain lions are most active—dawn, dusk, and at night.
• Bring pet food inside to avoid attracting raccoons, opossums and other potential mountain lion prey.

Identifying Mountain Lion Tracks The mountain lion track on the left can be distinguished from the dog track on the right by the absence of toenail prints and by the “M” shaped pad

Staying Safe in Mountain Lion Country

Mountain lions are quiet, solitary and elusive, and typically avoid people.

Mountain lion attacks on humans are extremely rare. However, conflicts are increasing as California’s human population expands into mountain lion habitat.

• Do not hike, bike, or jog alone.
• Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active—dawn, dusk, and at night.
• Keep a close watch on small children.
• Do not approach a mountain lion.
• If you encounter a mountain lion, do not run; instead, face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms; throw rocks or other objects. Pick up small children.
• If attacked, fight back.
• If a mountain lion attacks a person, 
  immediately call 911.

click to enlarge 
 Mountain lions can be found wherever deer, their primary prey, are found. They are a Specially Protected Mammal in California and cannot be hunted.

Link

Two attacked by bobcats

By PHIL SARATA, T&D Staff Writer  Thursday, May 07, 2009 

BRANCHVILLE — Two Branchville men have reported being attacked by bobcats.

While at least one of the men undergoes rabies treatment, officials are trying to figure out if one or two felines were involved in the separate attacks.

Both attacks took place in Branchville, the first around 9 p.m. Tuesday and the second shortly after midnight. The bobcat in the first attack was able to escape. The bobcat in the second attack didn’t.

Both attacks left the victims with injuries that required medical attention. One man required stitches.

Hugo D. Valentine says he was informed by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control late Thursday afternoon the animal that attacked him had rabies.

Describing the attack, Valentine said, “I was clearing a piece of land off Old Orangeburg Road with a backhoe Tuesday night. Me and some friends had piled up the debris and were burning it.

“Around 12:30, I felt something on my leg. I looked down and a bobcat had latched onto my thigh. I grabbed it by the ears and tried to hold it on the ground. We were able to pin the front paws down but it was still trying to bite me. Even though my friend was standing on its back legs, the bobcat’s back claws were still scratching up my hands. It died before I could get my knife. It looked as though we had smothered it.”

Valentine said he was treated at a hospital.

“All I have are scratches on my hand and teeth marks in my thigh,” Valentine said. “They treated the wounds and gave me a shot of antibiotics on the left side of my butt.

“I brought the cat to the hospital. I spoke to a DHEC representative and I was asked to put the head on ice so it could be tested for rabies. Once DHEC told me it did have rabies, my doctor started my treatment.”

DHEC spokesman Thom Berry said that he had not been able to confirm with Orangeburg DHEC officials the dead bobcat had tested positive for rabies as of early Thursday evening.

“If the case involves a human, we would recommend that the individual proceed with a rabies treatment, just to be on the safe side,” Berry said.

Branchville police say that an ambulance had responded to the scene of an earlier bobcat attack at 9:17 p.m. on Smoak Street.

Branchville Town Clerk Treesa Suggs said that victim suffered injuries to his arms and head.

“He came by town hall (Thursday),” Suggs said. “He had about 16 stitches in his head and several more in both his arms.”

Attempts to reach the victim were unsuccessful.

Bobcat attacks don’t happen much, said S.C. Department of Natural Resources Chief of Wildlife Statewide Projects, Research and Survey Derrell Shipes.

“We have had a lot of raccoons and foxes over the years with rabies but bobcat attacks are unusual,” Shipes said. “Most are afraid of humans and won’t attack unless provoked, such as being caught or cornered. They are not rare but they are also not abundant in South Carolina. They do not live close to humans.”

Link (It’s a PDF)

A very informative document from the New Mexico Game and Fish Department.

Link

State officials confirm bobcat had rabies

The Daily Courier

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

State officials confirmed Tuesday that a bobcat that attacked two people in Prescott Valley Monday had rabies.

The human victims, as well as a dog that suffered bites in a separate attack Monday, must get rabies vaccinations now.

PV police killed the bobcat shortly after it attacked a mother and daughter along Lynx Creek near StoneRidge Drive Monday afternoon.

The bobcat was acting extremely aggressive, so the rabies came as no surprise, said Zen Mocarski, an information officer with the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Kingman office.

To hear the police dispatch tape of the 911 call for help when the bobcat attacked the mother and daughter, visit The Daily Courier’s website at dcourier.com. The website also contains a more detailed story that ran Tuesday.

Mocarski said he fielded a lot of calls Tuesday from Prescott-area citizens concerned about all the recent northern Arizona attacks by wildlife with rabies.

People might want to carry a walking stick, but “The odds of encountering a rabid animal remain very low,” Mocarski said.

Link

Prescott Valley Police Officers shoot Bobcat after attack

PRESCOTT VALLEY POLICE     MONDAY, 13 APRIL 2009

On April 13th at approximately 3:47 p.m. Prescott Valley Police Officers responded to the first bridge on Stone Ridge drive, south of S.R. 69, for a possible bobcat attack.

Officers learned that a 13 year old female and her 43 year old mother, both residents of Prescott Valley, were attacked and injured by a bobcat. The attack was believed to have taken place approximately ¾ of a mile to a mile west of the bridge area.

The victims reported the bobcat attacked the 13 year old by biting her on the leg. The mother was injured by the animal when she defended her daughter from the attack. She was able to fight the animal off and both were transported to the Yavapai Regional Medical Center for treatment of their injuries.

Prescott Valley Police Officers attempted to locate the animal as a matter of public safety.

The Officers located the animal approximately three quarters of a mile west of the bridge. The animal charged at the officers in an aggressive manner. The officers, fearing for their safety, fired rounds at the bobcat stopping its aggression and killing it.

Game and Fish took custody of the animal as part of their investigation.

There were initial reports on scene that the cat had attacked a dog prior to attacking the women. That report is not confirmed at this time.

Link

Another bobcat attack. Curious. Maybe it’s a conspiracy.

FLORIDA: Florida Fish and Wildlife reports a bobcat attacked two people in separate incidents in Citrus County Saturday.

Johnathon Knecht, 10, and Frank Womack, 71, both sustained scratches and bites from the attack.

According to FWC officers, Knecht was hiking in the Withlacoochee State Forest with his Boy Scout group when the bobcat jumped onto his back, scratching and biting.

The other Boy Scouts came to Knecht’s assistance, and the animal ran back into the woods.

Knecht was taken to Citrus Memorial Hospital in Inverness where he was treated and released. 

The bobcat then moved on to Womack’s property.

The animal bit Womack on the leg, and the man was able to put the cat down.

Womack killed the bobcat in self defense and he was treated and released at a local hospital.

The bobcat was removed by county animal control officials who will test the bobcat for rabies.

Rabies always is present in wildlife populations and any warm-blooded animal can catch the disease if exposed to it.

It is extremely important that people make sure their pets have current vaccinations against rabies, FWC officials said.

Wild animal attacks are infrequent. However, most of the time when they do occur, the animal is sick.

According to FWC the bobcat is equipped with razor-sharp claws, needle-like teeth.

Bobcats can measure up to three feet in length, including the tail, and weigh 15 to 30 pounds.

They are excellent climbers and extremely efficient hunters.

Highlighting the point that even fairly urban areas can still provide wildlife encounters:

This story of a bobcat and a drinking establishment.