Hikers in Orange County's Trabuco Canyon encountered a mountain lion on Friday. The big cat stared down the group from behind a cluster of brush some five to ten feet away—and Mark Girardeau caught it all on camera.
The face off between Girardeau, a fellow hiker, and the big cat lasted about two minutes. "Get back, mountain lion! Get back!" Girardeau can be heard yelling over the footage.
"Back away slowly," Girardeau advised his friend, warning her not to turn her back on the cat.
The animal eventually "backed down," according to a caption published with the video to Instagram. Girardeau, a seasoned outdoorsman, theorized the lion—a young female known by area naturalists as "Uno"—may have been protecting a nearby kill, or simply crossed paths with the humans by accident.
"Mountain lions do not seek humans out to feed on and this is why it's good to hold your ground because any prey item for mountain lions runs away," Girardeau wrote.
Wildlife experts generally agree—the most effective method for staving off a possible attack when confronted by a mountain lion is to yell loudly and make oneself seem threatening, either by waving sticks or throwing items.
"Obviously the mountain lion doesn't understand what I'm saying," Girardeau wrote, "But the point here is to keep announcing yourself and assert dominance over the situation. This is the mountain lion's home, we are simply visitors in it."
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