Somebody alert Henry Shires to sew up some kevlar Tarptent prototypes. There are some mean kitties roaming his neck of the woods.

Bad Kitty attacks sleeping camper.

I've never read of an attack on a sleeping person before. We're just burritos, lying there, I guess.

Cheers,

Doesn't sound as though the person attacked was in a tent, but sleeping out on the ground--kitty burrito?

Speaking of Henry Shires, doesn't he live in Nevada City?

I seem to remember JimShaw posting a few years back about a mountain lion snarling outside his tent.

In all my years of visiting the wilds, the only time I ever saw a mountain lion was a tail rapidly disappearing into the brush when I was 15.

Yes, he decamped the peninsula for NC a few years ago, so this is probably near his 'hood/test facility.

I've never seen one in the wild, have only run across their tracks (not too far up the hill from this incident, come to think of it). This seems really atypical for a mountain lion attack--I hate it when critters don't follow the rules we've written down for them.

Cheers,

Makes me courious to what kind of effect bear spray would have on critters other than bears ie mountain lions or even men for that matter?

I believe it is quite effective for all three, the last critter being the most dangerous by far.

I agree. It sounds like it was playing with the guy. Its possible once it opened up the sleeping bag it became disoriented by all the down flying everywhere. Maybe the kitty had a down allergy.

Wow, that is a weird one.

I wonder if he was snoring and the sound attracted the cat. I'd think the cat must have been near starving to try and eat something off the normal menu.

I never saw one when I lived in CA, I don't know if I've seen one here or not. I've had a couple sightings that could have been one, but I wouldn't say they were for sure, just didn't get a good enough look.

Luckily, there's lots of cat food in our forests, so we're not likely to get attacked here because they're hungry.

They only got back here within the past 20 years or so, but a few have been killed by cars and farmers in just the past couple years, so we know for sure they are here now.

DFG trackers are still looking for it--she, evidently, based on testing the saliva. They know the cat is still in the area and has eaten at least one domestic cat. Apparently she was curious about the sleeping burrito and pressed a paw on the guy's head, and attacked him when he moved. Had it been starving I doubt there would have been any initial head-pressing, but I'm no expert.

If she's still in the area I'll venture a guess there's a cub or two as well.

Sleep tight!

Well, that's a good point, it might have just been having fun. Cats will be cats after all...