A hiker in northern California says a mountain lion stalked him and his mother after the animal “ambushed” them on a trail in Sonoma County. That’s just north of the San Francisco metro area. On Instagram, the hiker who goes by Wild Wild Rocks described a chaotic scene when he turned and locked eyes with a cougar.
“I heard a twig snap. As I turned my head, a full-grown cougar was lunging out of the brush towards us. I didn’t really have time to think. It was fight, flight, or freeze,” he wrote in his post. “It all happened so fast, but I reacted without haste. Arms up, primal yell and quickly advanced towards the cat. One more step by either of us, and I was in for some battle wounds. Maybe fatal ones.”
Take a look at the clip, which the hiker recorded just moments after the initial interaction:
In the clip, the hiker says, “Mom and I just got charged by a mountain lion. He’s still watching us.”
From there, he zooms into a grassy hill where you can see the cougar watching from above.
Mountain lion attacks are extremely rare, and more often than not, the animal would rather be left alone.
However, if you do come face-to-face with one of these animals, it is important to not run. Make yourself as big as possible, and try yelling and throwing objects at the cougar. That is usually enough to scare it off, but experts say to fight back if you’re attacked.