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Authorities — involved about an rising variety of mountain lion encounters together with one earlier this yr that killed a person and severely injured his brother — are asking residents of 1 California county to show to Fb to unfold the phrase.
Over the weekend, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Workplace took to its social media channels to encourage residents to go surfing as a part of its protocol for mountain lion security. They touted a gaggle named El Dorado County Mountain Lion Sightings, which had 7,000 members as of Monday, to report mountain lion exercise throughout the county.
The announcement encourages anyone who sees a mountain lion to put up particulars on the Fb feed, which is listed after calling 911 if a mountain lion poses a right away risk and calling the native agricultural division if pets or livestock get harm or killed by a cougar, an animal widespread to the Sierra foothills that has rising been seen in populated areas.
The postings on the web page embody surveillance footage, pictures of droppings and different security bulletins.
The web page was created in early Might, weeks after two brothers were attacked by a mountain lion ensuing within the dying of 21-year-old Taylen Brooks. His brother, Wyatt, required a number of surgical procedures however survived the assault. It occurred March 23 off Darling Ridge Highway east of Auburn on the outskirts of the Eldorado Nationwide Forest.
The assault shocked the foothill group and was the primary lethal mountain lion encounter in California in 20 years.
Specialists mentioned after the assault that the brothers did the right things after they had been pinned down by the cougar, which included making themselves seem greater, shouting at it and throwing a backpack to attempt to scare it away. However as a substitute of leaving, the 90-pound mountain lion turned aggressive and attacked the brothers. County trappers, who positioned the cat subsequent to Brooks’ physique and scared it away, finally re-located the mountain lion and killed it.
Assaults are uncommon, in line with Josh Rosenau the director of coverage and advocacy for the Mountain Lion Foundation.
“A lot about this example is uncommon and shocking,” Rosenau mentioned of the assault on the time. “For probably the most half, mountain lions attempt to keep away from individuals. They don’t like human voices. They acknowledge human shapes. They have an inclination to keep away from individuals and issues that aren’t clearly meals.”
The California Division of Fish and Wildlife reported just 21 mountain lion attacks on humans within the state since 1986, together with none because the assault on the Brooks brothers in March. It marked the fourth assault that resulted in a dying since data have been stored and the second in El Dorado County. The state’s earlier lethal encounter got here in Orange County in January 2004.
El Dorado deputies mentioned the company receives calls to 911 for a “vital quantity of mountain lion sightings every day” within the county. In creating the brand new protocol, the Sheriff’s Workplace labored with the Out of doors View, an internet site devoted to “educating and empowering your voice for the good outside,” in addition to county agricultural officers.
“It was decided that, presently, easy ‘sightings’ ought to be posted on the El Dorado County Mountain Lion Sightings Fb web page,” the Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned.
The web page gives a telephone quantity to report livestock kills and different non-emergency help however deputies mentioned that in a state of affairs to guard “your self, your loved ones, pets and livestock if you’re at fast threat or beneath assault,” 911 stays the primary possibility for assist.
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