California man records extremely close encounter with mountain lion
2023 ж. 12 Шіл.
581 939 Рет қаралды
Mark Girardeau kept his cool and kept his cell phone camera recording when he encountered a mountain lion while hiking in the Trabuco Canyon area of Orange County on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (Mark Girardeau)
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She's trying to tell you to turn your phone horizontally while making a video.
🔥😂
Exactly!
Exactly
@willswalkingwest 7267- That's too much. Hope you don't encounter one while walking west.
I can confirm, I've been a wildlife expert all my life. You can tell by how she flicks her right ear which translates directly to landscape. The left ear of course means portrait.
I've been in this kind of situation many times with squirrels. It's important to stay calm...
i met up with mouse who knew i had water
Lol. Good one.
That's hilarious!
A squirrel will come right after you! Especially if you have water.
Best comment ever :)))))))))
The cat was on his best behavior because it had a collar on indicating that he is on parole.
Well it’s a California cougar too. He was made of meat,and probably too old for her.
Our elected officials need collars….maybe they will change their behavior…..
I seen one of those things, fresh out of sing sing. Wasn't in California though.
@@visamedic. Most California cougars have breast implants and the most horrifying cosmetic surgery ever done. 🤣
@@anthonylove821 😬
Mountain Lion: “Excuse me. Just gonna slip on by here.”
The correct way to handle a mountain lion is "Here kitty, kitty, kitty."
Or sppspp sppsspp sspppsss
'hey, wait a minute...arent u-bang bang bang'. 'yup' 🥴🤓
Nice kitty! Did you check her collar to see if the owner's number was on it?
😂😂😂
For anyone who doesn't know, Cali wildlife authorities track the mountain lions when possible. They tranquilize them and affix them with a tracker usually on their ear. The most famous tracked mountain lion in Cali was P22 who passed away earlier this year I believe. But it's kinda hot as f***k in cali today. She probably just wanted some water and some relief from the heat.
I was so sad when P22 passed away 😢
Do they have a website? There’s a site that tracks 🦈 sharks. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did track them.
That’s interesting. California wildlife being protected
It's definitely hot here in California, So. Cal especially!. I hope wildlife doesn't suffer too much ❤
@@lexiwhatshername3162 oh boy. It’s right here in So OC Trabuco Cyn above Mission Viejo. We have mountain lions here.
Body language counts for a lot, and this lady cougar was giving off all the right signals. I, too, came onto a fairly large cougar that was lying across the trail blocking my way back in Cuyamaca State Park of San Diego County. He was dozing off and made no sign of being disturbed by my presence despite my nearly having stumbled just a few feet away from him. He literally made the same face a house cat makes when he’s happy on his favorite spot ready to fall asleep. I stood there and watched him for a few minutes then just went around him always facing him but he paid no further attention to me and rested his head to sleep.
Cuyamaca state park, there's quite a few mountain lions up there. Some are known to be quite aggressive. There was a lady hiker who got attacked by a mountain lion and killed up at Cuyamaca state park. Be very careful hiking in that area. Always carry bear mace and better to hike with a friend or two. I've been in those San Diego mountains looking for southern pacific and red diamondback rattlesnakes. Always looking for tracks of mountain lions and keeping my wits about me. Always looking behind me every 5-10 yards of walking.
You should have curled up with him for a nap. One guy in Oregon does that. They lick his face. He may have been eaten by now.
The cougar was content and sleepy because he was digesting the previous hiker.
I have a picture of a ghost on a tv.
Was full, just ate someone else.
Looks like the cat has a collar on, so she is being tracked. I didn't see any agressive behavior being displayed either. Glad it ended well for both of you! Good Story
"Can you please get out of my way? Geez."
She’s beautiful! She looks thirsty too, poor baby
Right. I think she knew the human could provide water, which is why she kept walking near him.
Poor thing it looks so thirsty 😢 So glad you were safe!
Camera man never dies lol
they do actually
Lol
Never say never
Hilda Clay took a picture of the mortar explosion that killed her. She was a combat photographer in Afghanistan. The last picture she took was a picture of a mortar round that misfired right in front of her, she snapped the picture at the same instant the explosion occurred. It killed her and three other soldiers standing nearby.
I wish they would find a better way to track them then those huge hot collars...
... agreed 👍
Right , Wth 🤦♂️
FR thats messed up
They spend billions and billions of USD on the military annually, but can't put some money into micro transponders... 🤦♂️
Perhaps a skinny whistle 🤪
They get up to 200lbs and travel a decent size area. It’s been pretty hot to be out during the day, so it may have been heading downhill to a water source. People often forget that that whole range around Saddleback is still full of wildlife. I think one of the last Grizzly Bears was killed not far from there around a hundred years ago.
those big cats need at least a hundred square miles to roam.
@@chheweeno they don’t, 65 square miles is their territory.
Grizzly bears still exist in the U.S. smh…
@@_DB.COOPER He meant in California. There are no more Grizzly Bears here in California.
@@_DB.COOPER Did you not read and understand what they said? They clearly said that the last of the Grizzly Bears in California were killed around a 100 years ago. Reading Comprehension folks.....
Great video. The cat's probably thinking the same thing as all of us "it's hot out here"....
You can feel the mutual respect.
uh-huh. Just like Disney. The two brothers in California last month was an accurate depiction of how much mountain lions "respect" humans.
I wonder if they have to call their parole officer when leaving their area.
Come on, they dont have cell phones. They must go in to the office to report.
The bigger problem is that we keep expanding the suburbs with no thought given as to where the animals go and survive.
yeah would sign up for the mars trip please
🥲
@@user-ke9yk5qp3u😢😢😢😢😢 All to true! And dumb idiots who buy in these areas have the audacity to get mad at wildlife in their yards! EXCUSE ME!!! You invaded the animals homes, idiots.
The Human Population continues to expand particularly in California.
@user-tw3kr9if1f Don't forget about the non human...humans out there...lol
What a beautiful creature and an extremely rare encounter, I've hiked S. Calif. all my life and never come across one. This hiker was smart , he carried bear spray and didn't do the one thing you are NEVER do if you see one of these cats, and that's turn and run. This automatically triggers the cat's chase instinct and they will see you as prey. This is like the same response of a domestic house cat when you run a string by them, they can't help but chase it. However, I would not have allowed the cat to get that close as they can jump 30' with a single bound. Better to back away (do not turn around) SLOWLY until the cat is out of sight. If you don't have bear spray and the cat is moving towards you in a stalking position, it's best to stand still but make yourself look bigger by holding a shirt or jacket above your head or waving your arms while shouting, as a last resort, throwing something at an approaching cat may temporarily confused it enough for you to get away.
most attacks happen to wimmen who are on their time of month--i have encounter mountain cats 5 times in utah--they will sit in trees and watch you,they are hard to see--never felt like they wanted to attack me--same with the black bears when i lived in Mammoth Lakes cali--they are used to seeing people,no biggee--you talk like you have had lots of encounters
South OC has them. Even Irvine. But Rancho Sta Margarita has a protected area for them to pass. Another on in Foothill Ranch/Irvine near Trabuco Road. They have killed or tried to kill people here after fires devoted their prey and starving. There’s a lot of food for them right now.
@@06snydernancyI’ve hiked in Irvine for years now and have never seen one, I do run into coyotes and deer though. For some reason this year I saw a lot of them
@@dethray1000that is 1000% false. Your spelling of women is atrocious
I had this idea about protection from big wild life while out backpacking. Many people have pots for cooking. If u attach them to your pack on the outside to be handy, u can use them to make a disturbing noise by hitting them together to give a pesky predator or any larger animal a reason not to hang around. It certainly would scare them should a encounter get dicey.
You can tell the mountain lion has worked with people before. 😅
Yeah shevlooks mad alright her people didn't pay her overtime and benefits
She’s wearing a tracking collar
@@Kevin-xb8ex …and her ear is tagged. She’s tame🙄.
@@joeswartz8286there's no way in the world she's the same. If it is a she
@@joeswartz8286 Are you trying to start an urban legend? A tagged animal does not equate to a tame animal. They tranquilize animals from a distance before tagging or collaring them (with a tranquilizer g*n), so no, they don't become tame.
She probably wants you to give her some water
that cat knows every water hole for 20 miles...
FINALLY a smart person who carries spray!!!!
Yes, really smart.
Bear spray is not even allowed in California anymore. So he must have bought it before
@@Jose-sy1je That's not true. It's not allowed only in Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon national parks.
So beautiful and just wants water.
Gorgeous animals.
That's one sweet kitty 😻❤
I had a runnin with a mountain lion in the late 80's in that area. I had a loaded shotgun with me so it wasn't that terrifying. It was dicey though as firing was the "last" thing I wanted to do. We both survived. Cool experience when it works out well.
Awww, I just want to pet her.
And become one handed in the process. 🧠🥜
imagine having to wear a fur coat in this heat.
It insulates them for heat as well as cold
Oh boy, animals surviving in hot climates still have fur, never heard of lions? Layers are actually protection from heat. People cover their body in hot climates, men in the wild west wore duster coats out there. Maybe this is why skin cancer is off the hook. People exposed to sun for the duration of day know to cover their skin, it's not like your flipflops and t-shirt weekend outings where you can find shade most of the time.
This is subject K4-298 a 6 year old female mountain lion, I have been watching its progress since it was first fitted with a transponder collar. It's very used to seeing hikers on that stretch of trail.
my impression was that it is used to seeing humans,knows that they taste like crap,smell bad
Awesome. How did you identify her from the video? Is she the only female in the area?
Sorry mate I made that up, I wasn't working so had to keep myself busy some how. @@fazsicle
@@dethray1000 they prefer4 legs meat 😂
The cameraman looked like he got off the road a little to let the cat pass. Very smart. A sign of respect for the cat. I had to do the same thing once for a mountain goat with the same good result. I was close enough to see how sharp and deadly those horns looked.
She was obviously more interested in getting a drink than chomping on this guy.. Shocking, she came that close. Very rare to see mountain lions even when looking for them...
Lucky man to see a mountain lion in the wild. Very fortunate.
And live to tell about it
That was awesome the worst thing to do is run. You did a great job holding your ground.
Mountain Lions see a LOT more people than people see Lions. I drove the Canyons of Sequoia and Kings Canyon in the wee hours for many years as part of my job. There are a lot of Lions out there. The biggest one I ever saw crossed the general’s Highway literally right in front of me at Grant Grove. 8:30 am. He looked at me with typical Cat-like disdain. I had been smelling him all summer. Imagine your Cat spraying times a hundred. I reported the sighting to the Rangers ONY because he was coming out of a very crowded Sunset Campground and headed into Wilsonia homes. As usual the NPS employees had a “Ho hum” attitude. I eventually stopped telling them anything.
Yup, I agree I live in Caliente and see mtn lion tracks on this one path all the time.
The older wiser cats usually aren't a problem unless they get old and start having trouble surviving/hunting. It's usually the young inexperienced ones trying to establish territory who may have never even seen a human before.
If u listen close enough in the distance you can hear uno respond
People don’t realize that these mountain lion attacks will increase because they are being driven from their roaming lands. Mountain lions require a huge amount of space to live without (literally) going insane and attacking people/pets. We have pushed them into the smallest pieces of land and now they are showing up in downtown LA. These aren’t unprovoked attacks - they simply have nowhere to go because of roadways and human development.
So True!!!!
If you dig a little deeper you will find the forest svc no longer pays bounty hunters to thin out the cougar population. This is a fact. It’s all due to crazy animal rights people
Regulated hunting is necessary to prevent the increase in attacks we’re seeing.
And that's no crime human development is more important. Proper game & wildlife management IS a thing but probably off kilter due to W0KE ideological bent. The animals can & do move if encroached upon. I'd say Californias "worst in the USA homeless population" suggests overly restrictive land use policies, meaning open up & sell that land. Also repeal stupid traffic pattern laws which create huge subdivisions & prevent rural ranch development.
It ran when it saw him, must’ve been captured before 😮 I wonder who was more nervous
That’s a young healthy collared cat. They roam a territory of 65 square miles. He was probably heading to water.
Is there a water source for them during this extreme heat?
they call uber eats,ask for water also
No they picked a home with no water source at all.
Probably why the cat was so determined to go downhill.
Cool. Nice to see our wild life is just keeping an eye on us.
Always remember you are in their backyard
Thank you father
And their narurally curious as to who is in their territory. Of couse most of the time you don't see them watching you.
Humans also come from Earth.
poor baby looked thirsty
If you see a mountain lion hold your camera still because as you know Camera man never 👇🏻
*Mountain Lion slows to regard the man* *Sees he's the camera man* *Runs for its life*
So what? One walked through the back of my property just this morning. Leave em alone.
what location?
Cougar is thinking “Finally my food is here”
Kitty: hey kids, Door Dash is here.😅
Great video. So cool to see someone keeping their cool with wildlife and walking past them like co-living organisms on Earth!
The one organism can eat the other organism if she so chooses.
@@HJ-jy7fwwell duhhh ?
I love my co-organisms in the form of beef patties on my burgers 😂
You have no idea how much danger he was in.
@@ronwade2206i think we do. We've all seen wildlife videos
Chill. It's wearing a collar, someone's pet got lost is all.
NOPE, it's not someone's pet. That a tracking collar which has on it her government issued identification number that tells where she came from originally, and other detailed background information on her such as: her approximate age; how far she's traveled since she was caught and tagged, etc by either a local, state, or a federal wildlife protection officer, etc; and if she's got any cubs or a mate. This man did the right thing by not freaking out, and keeping his composer as well as trying to remain very still plus fairly quite too. Also, he moved very slowly, and tried to maintain as much distance as he could from this beautiful lioness as possible without startlingly her. I wish that there was a follow-up in the description about what happened to him, and especially the lioness after this video ends because there should be at least that type of information available by the wildlife or forestry department for the media sources.
😹
That IS close! I encountered a mountain lion and her cub in Idyllwild in around 1989. I was surveying and walked within 60’ of her, they had been sleeping under a pine on a little rise. The first I knew of them was her growling and I froze. She turned and walked away, then the cub stood up! I just watched as the cub looked at me and then followed it’s mother. I was lucky that day!
That heat wave man, that mountain lion said it’s to hot to hunt I’ll eat at sundown lol! Seriously though good job staying calm and alert, I’ve had a few close calls myself and you seemed to have handled that perfectly.
That cat is too comfortable smoke it😂😂
I ran into one in the foothills of Jurupa Valley near the 60 freeway about 8 years ago. It took my breath away. But the time I got my phone out the lion was gone. Will never forget it.
You can almost imagine her saying : just passing through....pardon me -excuse me,excuse me-pardon me. Meow!!!😮
She's like, "Ok KZhead fam, I'm just out here checking my cams and..., oh wait, there's a human male, about 190 pounds, just chillin."
Lol at the bear spray part. If u let them get that close you wont have a chance to use it if it decides your dinner. They can cross 30 feet before u can turn around and take 2 steps
I thought he said "hair spray" and was wondering how close the cat would have to get to fire off enough to give it a good style. haha
@mayhewfisher62 - I heard the same. Glad I wasn’t the only one! 🤣
😂😂😂
Better to carry a hammer in your pocket to hit them hard in the head.
Right, if it was hunting you, you'd never know until its final lunge, way too late to reach for your bear spray. Bear spray for mountain lions is like face masks for COVID 😂, purely psychological.
It looked so polite. Maybe it only wanted to have you ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ for dinner.
That is awesome and intimidating. At least you don't think she is a snuggle butt looking for selfies with a Mountain Lion. Damn Gina that was cool!
Hey man, props for keeping your cool. 👍👏
Golden beauty.
Glad we still have these majestic creatures in our state.
Man: Hi, Uno! Uno: I guess I could eat.
That’s really interesting behavior from a wild cat. I think it needed a hug
Bro...I must say your calmness and confidence is why you are still alive. You showed no fear and it knew that!
I love it it's so beautiful and amazing and wonderful 😊
Such remarkable noble looking creatures. She must of had some level of trust to get so close. And not attempt to attack
I was visiting a cousin who lives in Phoenix a couple of years ago, she said we should go for a hike I said sure lets go. She told me to grab about a dozen or so bottle rockets and hand towel ( hand towle to hold the bottle rocket when it's been lit ), I asked why that stuff. She said to scare away any mountain lions or coyotes, we saw a mountian lion but it kept it's distance.
My man is literally trying to get eaten...
Magnificent creature! I wish I could experience an encounter like that! 🥰
She meant you no harm at all she was freaked out as much as you were
It's a good thing you didn't look like the guy who put that collar on her.
Totally reminds me of what I call "the cat and the rooster". My cat and the neighbor's rooster passed eachother in a narrow stretch of my yard. Both eyed eachother warily and reacted just as the cougar did. I might have had to change my shorts after that tho'. The one close encounter I had with a mountain lion it turned around and ran away as I approached, thank God.
Aww she’s cute, she needs water asap.
He’s smart, he knows the camera man never dies
She’s obviously had contact with humans .. Young and healthy.. a beautiful animal!! ❤
when i lived in the country, i went outside to walk my dog and there was a mountain lion on my dirt road
So this animal has a name, a collar, and a tracker thingy on its right ear, so it is not some random encounter. It seems the cat has some sense not to mess with people, or it is tamed. Maybe care for as a cub, or something. It is skinny and thirsty too.
poor cat looks thirsty and hungry and ill.
The encounter I had was where I saw the lion dive into the bushes as I came up a steep trail, huffing and puffing from being out of shape (Gilroy, CA)
Wow!
Poor thing looked thirsty.
Cat was thinking, Oh crap, after the last human I met, I woke up with a hangover and a Frisbee stuck on my neck.
I think it's looking for water poor thing was more exhausted and scared of the person.
I had this experience a few times, many years ago. Man has encroached into their territory, they're feeding grounds. Luckily for this person, she didn't have any Cubs to protect and or she's apparently not extremely hungry! Most attacks in humans happen because of one of those reasons. I consider it an Honor to be in such close proximity to any wildlife. Please remember people, you are invading Their Territories!!! Be Very Respectful ✌️💞🙏
I've encountered dogs more threatening than that!
She's like, "Nothing to see here."
Can’t even breath💔
DUHHHHHHHH, all you people. This is home for him/her. We are the outsiders. NEVER get that close to a wild animal.
Was this video taken in Whiting Ranch ?
I’d be walking back slowly…
Leave the Mountain Lions alone .
Poor thing probably dehydrated hungry
Her collar tells me she thought she was going to be violated by parole for being around humans! 🤣🤣🤣
Looks like she just wanted to pass and possibly smell the guy.
Poor Mountain Lion was hot and thirsty…
She looked like the same thing was going through her head. “OK, there’s a biped. Just calmly walk past. Stay on my side of the trail. Don’t panic.”
Definitely an "oh s**t" moment!
She's not chilling. She's waiting
it had on a tracker collar so it knows. 😊
Good catch. I missed that at first
In Cantonese, folks don't say, How are you? They say, Have you eaten dinner already? It's the same way one would greet a cougar.
Anyone know whereabouts this was in Trabuco canyon?