Re: RC: Re: trail safety: cats, etc

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 04/26/2000 8:38:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
celiak@pcrs.net writes:

<< Does anyone have any really good advice about how to behave (for survival)
 when confronted with a lion?
  >>

I have never been confronted with a hungry mountain lion, so I can't speak 
from authority.  However, I have been confronted with a very large Elephant 
Seal bull (8 tons of blubber). We were taught to raise our arms high over our 
heads, so that we were the taller of the two. These guys rear up also, but 
the trick is to appear higher. Granted, they aren't interested in EATING 
people, but they would attack one as an intruder.  So, if I were ever to meet 
a lion, I'm sure my instincts would be to raise my arms high and roar like a 
ferocious beast of some sort. I might even charge a few steps at the lion 
while roaring. Once I was being threatened by a very angry and protective cow 
with a newborn calf. My self-preservation instincts took over and I jumped up 
and down, waved my arms, and roared at her as loud as I could. She backed 
down, went back to worrying about her calf, and I got out of there ASAP!  I 
don't know if my theory would work, but I'm sure that running would be a big 
mistake, so what are the other alternatives? And what else could you do in 
the few split seconds allowed you before the lion might attack?  If I ever 
meet a lion and this theory doesn't work, I will have advised one of my 
survivors to post the failure on Ridecamp, so the rest of you will be 
informed!

Barbara