Mauling Came After ‘Unusual’ Lion Sightings

A former Orange County park ranger testified Wednesday that there had been several “unusual” mountain lion sightings at Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park in the months before a 5-year-old girl was mauled by one in 1986.

Darrell Bennett, now a state park ranger in Indio, said that at least twice before the attack on Laura Small, mountain lions had seemed to threaten hikers. On one occasion, a cougar charged at and circled two hikers, leaving only after they pelted it with rocks.

“The books that we were reading had said that (mountain lions) were secretive little critters that wouldn’t hurt us and usually posed no threat to man,” Bennett said.

But that conventional wisdom proved wrong on March 23, 1986, when a mountain lion mauled Laura, blinding her in one eye, paralyzing most of her right side, and leaving her to deal with a host of other physical and emotional injuries.

The Small family is suing the county, alleging that it was negligent because it failed to adequately warn campers about such threats as wild animals. On Wednesday, an Orange County Superior Court jury started hearing testimony in what is expected to be a five-week trial.

In opening statements, Wylie A. Aitken, the Smalls’ attorney, said county officials knew about the danger of mountain lions but gave out brochures that stated “the most dangerous wildlife in the park was poison oak.”

Aitken said that even after state authorities alerted the county to possible danger from mountain lions, county brochures said the cats “had a healthy aversion to humans.” Aitken charged that the county had created part of the problem by luring wild animals into contact with humans by the way it positioned water troughs, shrubbery and eating places in the park.

County officials have denied any wrongdoing. The county’s attorney, Barry Allen, told the jury that the county “can’t be liable for the acts of a wild mountain lion.”

Allen said that mountain lion experts at the time did not believe the animals posed a threat to man. “They’ve learned a lot since,” he said, but “the issue is not what is known about mountain lions now, but what was known about them then. . . . Prior to the Laura Small attack, there had never been a mountain lion attack in Southern California.”

In late 1985 and early 1986, Bennett testified, officials at Caspers were becoming concerned about a rash of mountain lion sightings. Once, he said, he was conducting a nature hike for 10 children and four adults when a mountain lion was spotted in a tree above the trail.

He said he tried to scare it away with a branch, but it didn’t budge at first.

“Did it seem secretive to you?” Aitken asked.

“No,” Bennett replied.

“Did it seem to have a healthy aversion to humans?” Aitken asked.

“No,” Bennett said.

After that and other incidents, Bennett’s supervisor told him to consult state authorities. They said the sitings were “unusual” and advised that contact between the animals and the public should be avoided, Bennett said. Ironically, he noted, a meeting with state officials had been scheduled for the week following Laura’s attack.

Also on Wednesday, the jury heard a harrowing account of Laura’s rescue.

Gregory Ysais, 41, of Mission Viejo testified that he was hiking with his wife and daughter when he heard faint screams in the distance.

He said he followed the cries to Laura’s mother, who, frantic, said that her daughter had been dragged into the bushes by a mountain lion.

Ysais found the mountain lion “sitting on its haunches” with the girl’s head and neck inside its powerful jaws.

“I grabbed a dried branch and was swinging it over the head of the mountain lion and screaming, hoping to scare it into dropping Laura,” he said.

He testified that the cougar “was swiping” at him with a paw but finally released Laura and started “lunging” at him. Ysais continued to poke at the animal with his stick until the mother took Laura to safety and the mountain lion finally fled.