Brothers did ‘everything by the book’ in mountain lion attack, California wildlife experts say

The mountain lion attack in El Dorado County over the weekend was California’s first that resulted in a fatality in 20 years and the victims — a 21-year-old who died and his 18-year-old brother who survived with injuries — did what anyone was supposed to do in such an encounter, according to experts.

The instances are rare, Josh Rosenau of the Mountain Lion Foundation said, because mountain lions often avoid interactions with humans despite being prevalent throughout much of the western United States.

“So much about this situation is unusual and surprising,” said Rosenau, the director of policy and advocacy for the Mountain Lion Foundation. “For the most part, mountain lions try to avoid people. They don’t like human voices. They recognize human shapes. They tend to avoid people and things that are not obviously food.”

Taylen, 21, and Wyatt Brooks, 18, encountered a young, 90-pound male mountain lion on Saturday on a rural road southeast of Georgetown in the Sierra Nevada foothills while looking for antler sheds, the Brooks family wrote in a news release. Taylen Brooks, 21, died from the attack and Wyatt, 18, is recovering from “traumatic” injuries, the family said.

The cougar was later found and euthanized that evening near where the attack took place.

Based on the information made available, experts say the brothers handled the encounter with the animal appropriately before it became hostile.

“It sounds like they did most of the things that I would advise someone to do in a situation like that,” Rosenau said.

Capt. Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Law Enforcement Division agrees.

“These two young men did everything by the book,” Foy said. “They stood tall, it sounds like they shouted, they threw something at the lion, and then ultimately they fought back when it attacked them. Those are all the things we recommend that people do, in addition to just staying together.

“People have asked about how to be safe in mountain lion country, one of the first things we recommend is to be with another (person). It’s extraordinarily rare for a mountain lion to attack anyone anyway. But for two young, strong men, it’s exceedingly rare.”

The Brooks family said the brothers “raised their hands in the air to appear larger, yelled at the mountain lion, and Wyatt even threw his backpack at the lion, all in attempt to scare the lion away.”

The lion charged Wyatt and bit his face while taking him to the ground before attacking Taylen. After being unable to get the big cat off Taylen, Wyatt “ran back toward where they had parked his vehicle where he eventually obtained cell service and called 911.”

“I think it was a wise call,” Rosenau said. “I think that was probably the best choice that he could have made in that situation.”

Rosenau was asked what he thinks people should do when encountering a mountain lion.

“The first thing to bear in mind is that if you’re hiking in any good-sized chunk of forests in the western U.S., you’re probably in mountain lion country,” he said. “You probably won’t see a mountain lion. People in California are out recreating in forests and parks in huge numbers, and the number of people who even see a mountain lion is incredibly small.”

Rosenau said, in most cases, mountain lions try to avoid human interaction altogether.

“As long as it’s at a reasonable distance, chances are it knows that you’re there and you know that it’s there, and you can just stand and watch it or give it a good shout and it’ll take off,” Rosenau said. “If it’s a little bit closer, if it’s a little bit of a scarier situation, mountain lions are basically scaredy cats. They don’t want to be near people, they don’t want to get into a fight.

Rosenau said safety items that are associated with encounters with other animals in the Sierra could also be used to stave off mountain lions.

“Being loud — if you’re hiking in bear country, especially — carrying some bear spray, being trained in how to use it is a good idea. People will sometimes carry an air horn or a whistle. Those can be good safety tools in general. There’s not a lot I would do just for mountain lions,” Rosenau said.

Rosenau reiterated mountain lion interactions with humans are particularly rare. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife reported there were 21 mountain lion attacks in the state since 1986. An attack is defined as “an incident resulting in direct physical contact between a human and mountain lion resulting in physical injury or death to a person.” Saturday’s attack was just the fourth that resulted in a death since records have been kept.

“You’re basically more likely to get hit by lightning on your birthday than to have a bad encounter with a mountain lion,” Rosenau said.