<p>I have heard rumors about Mountain Lion attacks, but can anyone tell me if there have been many Mountain Lion attacks at UCSC or even sightings. Is it safe to be walking at night or if I wanted to go on a run during the day or night?
Thank You in advance for the info</p>
<p>Yes, there are occasional sightings, but not as frequent as the rumors you heard would lead you to believe. There has not been an attack on campus in quite some time that I have heard of. The mountain lions are far more afraid of you than you are of them.</p>
<p>If you’re an idiot about it, then yes, there can be a danger. You should always exercise caution wherever you are. Our society is ever increasingly encroaching on the territory of wildlife more and more and they are coming out of the back hills and woods into well populated cities (even SF has coyotes that kill pets).</p>
<p>Just be smart. Check your email, there will be alerts there when something or someone has been sighted (campus is considered close after 8pm so there’s less risk of this). Always be aware of your surroundings. If you think you’re going to be out late, bring a flashlight. The one I carry with me doubles as a safety whistle as well. Stick to trails. If you must leave them, do so knowing where you’re going and ideally with a buddy particularly if it is after dark.</p>
<p>Above all: leave the wildlife alone. You are honestly more at risk from the deer and the raccoons than you are from the coyotes and mountain lions. Someone last year was all upset that “Bambi” tried to attack her after she tried to pet the creature. Never get between a mother and her baby… especially deer and raccoons.</p>
<p>[UC</a> Santa Cruz Police - Mountain Lion Reports](<a href=“http://police.ucsc.edu/lion3.html]UC”>http://police.ucsc.edu/lion3.html) You might find this useful. Last reported one was 2007. There’s also information on that site about how to react if one does encounter a mountain lion.</p>
<p>Just pay attention, listen, be prepared, and leave the wildlife alone. They won’t bother you unless they feel you are bothering them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! I’ll make sure to carry a flashlight and a bat when I’m walking! Jk sort of scary about the wild life over there. When I visited the campus last year there were so many deer everywhere. The campus looked really isolated, but then again it was labor day weekend. Does the campus become really isolated during the night?</p>
<p>I’d be more afraid of all the racoons instead of mountain lions lol. And the campus is always pretty busy during the day but it starts to quiet down at night. Either everyone going into their dorms, or back to where they live if they commute. But on weekends especially at night the buses are always packed with students going on about either to parties or downtown.</p>
<p>Just for the record, the “last reported one” was in 2007 because that web page hasn’t been updated since 2007. There were generally about six reports per year prior to that, if you look at the dates.</p>
<p>action:
If you’ll also notice, I mentioned that we receive notices in our email and there are fliers put up when there are sightings. I have not received one at all in the nearly year and a half I have been here. Just because there was an earlier pattern does not mean such a thing would continue. You do not know the conditions under which the higher percentage of reports occurred.</p>
<p>The campus is on top of keeping us updated about incidents and potentially dangerous situations to put everyone on greater alert.</p>
<p>And, if you want to be technical, that site is only for reported sightings. Someone could very well have seen one, but not have reported it. If you do a search for news reports, there are zero in the last handful of years for sightings on UCSC’s campus. You can find articles about the mountain lions being tracked, though. That is not the same as a sighting within the campus proper itself, though.</p>
<p>You have no reason to be concerned about Mountain Lions here. The actual campus property is MASSIVE and extends WAY further ‘up the hill’ into the mountains than you’ll ever go. You have nothing to worry about if you’re walking around campus late at night. These sightings are undoubtedly on campus but still quite a distance from any form of ‘civilization.’ </p>
<p>You’ll be far more worried about wandering CSO’s in the night.</p>
<p>Im sorry to sound ignorant, but what are CSO’s</p>
<p>Community Safety Officer.</p>
<p>I didn’t say anything about a current pattern. I noted two facts: There were, on average, about six per year in the time frame when the site was last updated; and the website has not been updated in four years. No need to call me out artificially for getting my facts straight. If you have further information about more recent trends, you should have stated that initially. And if you haven’t received a report in a year and a half, there’s still a solid 2.5 year gap in the report filings online that you should address.</p>
<p>This is a worthless discussion. But trying to accuse me of saying something inaccurate or ignorant was even more worthless. I said two precise things, and they were both exactly correct.</p>
<p>I didn’t state anything about current patterns. My exact words were:</p>
<p>“Just because there was an earlier pattern…”</p>
<p>Was. Past tense. Used to exist. In the past. Before the present.</p>
<p>Don’t get your panties in a twist over nothing. No one called you out. You made a point to say that the information was “out of date” (shouldn’t I be able to argue now that you called me out?) when you have nothing to support this beyond the fact that reported sightings for UCSC’s campus has nothing since 2007. I had mentioned before you posted that we do receive information about such things and surprisingly: I can read and comprehend quite well. You were not the only one to see the last reported sighting was 2007.</p>
<p>Seriously, dude, chill out and stop looking to pick a fight. Not cool. All I did was point out where your observations were inaccurate (especially since you failed to read where, as I again point out I said before you even posted initially, I mentioned we receive emails on such things… had there been a sighting mentioned between those times, then I would have posted about it). The “solid 2.5 years” are not unaccounted for either. Do a news search. There are no other reported sightings. Heck, I even conceded to the technicality that the sightings were only reported sightings. Someone could very well see one and never report it!</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is, though, the mountain lions very, very rarely come close to the populated area of campus. That large number of sightings from previous years was a huge oddity.</p>
<p>If it’s such a worthless discussion, then why did you bother to post ;)? Walk away, young padawan. Anger, fear, aggression… these are the path to the dark side. And mountain lions. Lots of mountain lions. But I’ve heard they have cookies :D</p>