Stared Down by Lion, Mountain Biker Did Not Blink

What would you do if you met a mountain lion face to face?

A 38-year-old mother of three may be alive because she knew the answer.

The 5-foot-6 woman, who asked not to be identified, lives in the north coastal town of McKinleyville, near Eureka. She was riding her mountain bike on private forest land east of town late one afternoon last week when she crested an old logging road and saw an adult cougar about 75 feet away.

“We stared at each other,” she said. “I had seen mountain lions in the wild several times. . . . Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, it’s not running away.’ Then I remembered the pamphlet.”

The pamphlet is “Living with California Mountain Lions,” published by the California Department of Fish and Game. The woman’s mother had sent her one recently.

Among the tips:

--Do not approach a lion.

--Do not run.

--Make eye contact.

--Do all you can to appear larger.

“I raised my arms and yelled--and nothing happened,” the woman said. “So I raised my bike in the air and yelled. Nothing. It just stood there staring at me.

“I began to realize that I was making animal sounds, like growls, and that maybe I should be making human sounds, so I began to yell things like, ‘Go away, mountain lion!’ I even threw a chunk of wood at it.

“We stared at each other for what was probably only three to five minutes but seemed like an eternity, and then it turned and slowly loped off the road.”

Rather than retreating, an act the lion might have perceived as running, the woman advanced to where the lion entered the brush--and there it was again, crouched and staring at her.

“I got very scared, so I started my antics all over again.”

Finally, the lion left, and the woman continued, walking her bike and yelling, until she felt it safe to ride home.

The DFG has documented 12 fatal lion attacks on humans in 105 years--nine in the last nine years and four in 1994. Two recent attacks on female adults were fatal.

The McKinleyville woman said, “It may be that lions are getting to be too comfortable with people.”

*

It’s against the law to fish with a trawl net within three miles of the Southern California coast. DFG wardens have had an ongoing problem with violators, many of them immigrants who say they have difficulty comprehending the commercial fishing regulations.

The DFG this week told of a meeting its wardens held in Long Beach on March 13 especially for the Vietnamese. Johnny Nguyen Hung, 23, of Westminster, who operates the 45-foot Johnny I out of Fish Harbor on Terminal Island, helped as an interpreter.

No more problems, right?

The next day, DFG warden Chris Graff, aboard the research vessel R/V Chromis, found a trawler working only 2 1/4 miles off the San Clemente Pier.

Guess who.

Hung pleaded guilty, and South Orange County Municipal Court Judge Art Koelle fined him $1,950, including $100 for the Fish and Game Preservation Fund and $500 for the Orange County Victim Witness Emergency Fund.

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Louie Abbott of Harbor Village sportfishing in Ventura no longer thinks the run of king, or chinook, salmon just a few miles offshore is the best he has seen since 1970. It’s better.

Tuesday, when all three boats reported limits by late morning, Abbott said, “It’s got 1970 beat.”

The run started in early March. Tuesday’s catches averaged 16 pounds.

Briefly

MISCELLANY--Fishermen are needed as volunteer instructors for Free Fishing Day at the Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve Saturday, June 10. Those interested may contact the DFG’s John Scholl at (714) 640-6746. . . . Kim Rhode, 15, of El Monte, is the youngest of 23 members and seven Californians on the U.S. World Shotgun Championship Team that will compete at Nicosia, Cyprus, June 12-20. . . . Hunting seminars, line dancing and demonstrations of firearms and archery equipment are included in Fred Hall’s All-Family Shooting Fair and Country Hoedown at the Orange County Shooting and Training Center June 2-4 in Irvine. . . . Tim Alpers will tell the South Bay Flyfishers about his Owens River Ranch and trout farm at their June 7 meeting at the Westchester Town House. Details: (310) 364-6736. . . . Castaic Lake will offer boating safety classes on weekends from noon to 4 p.m. Fee: $20. Details: (805) 257-4050.

MEXICAN FISHING--Cabo San Lucas: Sharon Wolf of Glendora, aboard the Gaviota III, topped the week with a 330-pound blue marlin. Boats averaged two stripers per trip. Gaviota I Capt. Jesus Dago Berto and Gaviota 8 Capt. Juan Dominguez scored nine striper releases each. East Cape: Marlins hitting everything. John Maland of Phoenix, at Palmas de Cortez, scored four during the full moon May 13-14, lost seven or eight and saw 30 to 40 boiling.