Latest news with #Rasura
Los Angeles Times
09-07-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
‘Go away!' SoCal hiker captures scary encounter with mountain lion on video
It's the type of nightmare scenario every Southern California hiker fears — you're walking alone on a trail when suddenly, a mountain lion appears on the path. But for Cortney Rasura last week, that nightmare became reality. In a wild video shared on Instagram, Rasura captured two moments when a mountain lion came onto her hiking trail, and at one point, appeared to be headed straight toward her. 'No!' she repeatedly yelled at the cat. 'No, go away!' Rasura encountered the mountain lion on July 3 on Gridley trail in Los Padres National Forest, she said in an interview with KTLA. After making several steps toward her, the mountain lion diverts from the trail and bounds up the hillside. You can hear Rasura's relief in the video as she mutters, 'thank you!' Rasura told the station that she's an experienced hiker, and knew to maintain eye contact with the cat and not run away. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife encourages people to take steps to avoid mountain lion encounters, such as hiking in groups, not hiking at dawn, dusk or nighttime and keeping food stored properly. But in an unplanned encounter, Rasura took several of the agency's recommended steps, including staying calm, not running away and making loud noises. The agency also recommends trying to look bigger, if possible, and warns people to never approach the big cat or crouch down. According to the CDFW, there have been a dozen mountain lion attacks on humans in the last decade in California, one fatal. Even still, the agency said such attacks remain quite rare, as humans are 1,000 times more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion.
USA Today
09-07-2025
- General
- USA Today
Hiker films an ‘amazing and terrifying' encounter with a mountain lion
A hiker in California faced a scary situation last week when a mountain lion she encountered started walking toward her on the trail after she thought it had retreated. 'I have been hiking in Ojai for over 15 years and had never come across a mountain lion before,' Courtney Rasura told Edhat Santa Barbara. Fortunately, she knew what to do during the encounter. She didn't run, and kept talking to it, instructing the cougar to 'go away' and repeatedly saying 'no, no, no.' She even gave out a roar. Rasura captured the close encounter on video, and Edhat posted it on Instagram. On Thursday, Rasura had been hiking Gridley Trail for around four miles and hadn't seen anyone else. She told Edhat she usually plays a podcast when hiking alone on certain parts of the trail to alert wild animals. When she returned into cellphone range, she was looking at her phone, then glanced up and saw a mountain lion coming toward her. She started taking video. 'I was really hoping my yelling would make it go away, which it did, but after it retreated into a bush, it came back onto the trail.' And it slowly walked toward her, looking at her, before deciding to exit the trail and climb the hillside. He retreated out of sight in some bushes. Rasura passed by while looking over her shoulder to make sure the mountain lion wasn't following her. 'It was an amazing and terrifying experience all at the same time,' Rasura told Edhat.
