Video footage captured the astonishing moment a woman came face-to-face with a mountain lion who was literally ‘hanging out’ in a tree in her backyard.
Homeowner Corinna Bubenheim, of Woodland Hills in Los Angeles, first spotted the striking animal when her German Shepherds began running around her avocado tree in her yard on Thursday.
Expecting to come across the common squirrel or perhaps a possum, Bubenheim was shocked to find a pair of big furry paws.
Bubenheim told KTLA5 that she thought her dogs were ‘just making a big fuss about a squirrel.’
‘I looked up and I thought, It’s a opossum, maybe,’ she added. ‘Then I saw the big claws and its fur and was like, well, it looks like a German Shepherd. But it’s probably not a German Shepherd because they don’t climb. It turns out it’s a mountain lion.’
Bubenheim told the outlet that mountain lions are not a common sighting in the neighborhood.
Los Angeles Animal Services officers were dispatched to warn neighbors and maintain a presence in the area as a precautionary measure.
Scientists have estimated the population of California’s mountain lions is far lower than they had hoped.
Officials concluded earlier this year that there are 3,200 to 4,500 total mountain lions, thousands fewer than expected.
State and university scientists calculated the total number using GPS collar data and genetic information from shoreline samples.
The scientists used this data to match the populations across the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Mojave Desert, and the fire-stripped wilderness in Southern California.
‘There’s never been a study of this scale and over such a large and diverse geographical area with such a variety of habitats,’ said Winston Vickers, a veterinarian at the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center, and one of the officials who conducted the study.
Large-carnivore biologist and leader of the California Mountain Lion Project effort Justin Dellinger told the LA Times that the most significant population density is in ‘the coastal forests of Humboldt and Mendocino counties of Northwest California.’
The lowest is in the high desert east of the Sierra Nevada Range in Inyo County, California.
‘The Central Valley and portions of the Mojave Desert have no mountain lions,’ said Dellinger.
The predicted number of the California mountain lion population was around 6,000 according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
One man died and another suffered ‘traumatic injuries’ to the face following a mountain lion attack in rural California – the first in two decades.
The men, two brothers aged 21 and 18, were searching for shed antlers in a remote part of Georgetown, a small community 50 miles outside Sacramento.
Around 1:13 pm, the 18-year-old phoned 911 to say that he and his brother were attacked, leaving him with ‘traumatic injuries to his face,’ according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office. The teen added he had been separated from his brother.
This article by Noa Halff was first published by The Daily Mail on 12 May 2024. Lead Image: Video footage captured the astonishing moment a woman came face-to-face with a mountain lion who was literally ‘hanging out’ in a tree in her backyard.
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