Riders Say Two Mountain Lions Confronted Them on Park Trail : Wildlife: Officials may decide today if the animals sighted at Happy Camp Canyon facility will be tracked and killed.

A pair of menacing mountain lions reportedly confronted and stalked two women horseback riders at Happy Camp Canyon Regional Park late Wednesday afternoon, and professional trackers may be used to try to hunt the animals down.

Sharon Virzi, 41, of Simi Valley and Robin Phipps, 27, of Moorpark were riding their horses along a well-used trail about half a mile into the park on the edge of the city limits, when a mountain lion lunged at Virzi’s horse.

“I had just said to Robin that the ride was good for your blood pressure,” Virzi said. “Then I heard an explosion of leaves, and Tut (her Arabian horse) leaped about seven feet to the side. I looked down and saw teeth.”

Virzi said the lion then walked slowly away and lay on a log about 25 feet away.

“He was just laying there looking at us,” she said.

The two women decided to quickly turn back and ride out of the park, but another lion stood on the trail behind them.

“That’s when my heart stopped,” Virzi said.

The pair doubled back and started heading deeper into the park. When they looked back they repeatedly saw one of the mountain lions following. It wasn’t until they traveled about a mile that they kicked the horses into a full run.

“(The mountain lions) were actually stalking us,” she said. “When I looked back and saw that second one, I saw death looking straight back at me.”

Virzi said that although she did not see either of the animals after the first half mile, her horse was edgy as if the lions were nearby. It took Virzi and Phipps almost three hours before they reached the gate to the park at Happy Camp Road.

Virzi, who has ridden in the park for three years, said she wasn’t sure if she would go back.

Capt. Roger Reese, who heads the local office of the California Department of Fish and Game said the department may bring professional trackers to hunt down and kill the pair of mountain lions.

Reese said biologists and other wildlife experts are looking into the encounter to determine if the mountain lions pose a threat to the public.

“We haven’t made a decision yet,” Reese said. “I want to consult with a few more biologists and members of the Animal Damage Control team before I decide if these animals constitute a threat.”

Reese said two or three other sightings of mountain lions in the same area of the park were reported this month. He said a decision on the fate of the animals could be made as soon as today .

“The lions would have to be killed if they are a danger to the public,” he said. “But right now this information is just preliminary and we can’t make that determination.”

Park officials plan to post warnings at the entrance to the park letting people know that they are entering mountain lion habitat.

“This was probably very unnerving for the women,” said Rorie Skei, assistant executive director of the East County Conservation Authority--a joint agency of the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy and the Ventura County Parks and Recreation Department, which oversees the park.

“This is certainly something to be aware of and concerned about,” Skei said. “But I don’t think there’s sufficient evidence that these cats pose a threat to the public.”

There are a number of other options that could be taken short of killing the animals, Skei said, including simply letting people know that the park has a population of mountain lions and certain precautions should be taken. Skei said she doubted the women were being stalked by the mountain lions.

“A horse is a heck of a lot bigger than a deer,” she said. “I think the cats were probably waiting by the creek for deer and the women happened upon them. The cats were probably as scared as they were.”

Mountain lions have been spotted more and more near residential areas as urban sprawl encroaches on their habitat. Experts also attribute the increase in the number of encounters to an increase in the mountain lion population since California ended hunting on the predators in 1971.

Paul Beier, a University of Northern Arizona professor who has studied the species across the western United States and Canada, said people were more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by mountain lions. There have been only 12 fatalities from mountain lion attacks since the turn of the century, he said. Most recently a woman near Sacramento was killed by a cat while jogging on a rural road.

“All but one of those fatalities were of people who were alone when they were attacked,” Beier said.