A reported mountain lion assault in Arroyo Grande turned out to be not fairly so dramatic when wildlife officers decided a feline that jumped from a tree onto a bike owner was not the truth is a cougar.
It was a home home cat.
On Wednesday, a 19-year-old mountain bike rider reported being attacked by what he thought was a mountain lion that leapt out of a tree as he rode by on James Method.
Patrick Foy, a captain with Fish and Wildlife’s regulation enforcement division, stated the division obtained a report of a suspected mountain lion that launched itself from the tree and scratched an individual’s leg.
In a timeline report of the occasion, Foy stated that the sufferer declined any medical therapy.
Wildlife officers investigated the incident and despatched DNA samples of the sufferer’s clothes and bicycle helmet to the division’s Wildlife Forensic Laboratory in Sacramento for genetic testing, in line with the report.
Foy stated lab technicians began evaluation on Sunday.
By the subsequent morning, lab outcomes got here again not with proof of a cougar, however home cat DNA as an alternative.
“Mountain lion DNA was not detected on any of the samples,” Foy stated.
Mountain lion assaults are uncommon
The last word consequence is smart on condition that an individual is 1,000 occasions extra prone to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion, in line with the Fish and Wildlife web site.
Solely 24 mountain lion attacks on humans have been reported since 1984. The vast majority of incidents had been nonfatal, though in 4 instances in El Dorado, San Diego and Orange counties, victims died.
No instances have been reported in San Luis Obispo County, nonetheless an assault in Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara occurred in 1992.
Different current wild animal assaults on people which have made current U.S. headlines embody:
Fish and Wildlife recommends individuals all the time keep conscious of their environment and journey within the wilderness with a companion.
When you encounter a cougar, attempt to seem bigger and extra aggressive and by no means bend or crouch down.
To report encounters or assaults, name the Fish and Wildlife 24-hour dispatch heart at 916-445-0045.
