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Do you go hiking on the most popular trails of the peninsula this weekend? Well, make other plans.
The Rancho San Antonio Open Space Reserve is closed – and a family of mountain lions is to blame.
The rare decision to temporarily close the reserve Friday was taken after a wave of sightings of mountain lions and less than a week after a hiker captured the three hundred footer video footage of the hiker.
Rancho San Antonio – located between Mountain View and Cupertino – includes 24 km of trails and attracts 700,000 visitors each year. In addition to its trail system, the reserve is also home to Deer Hollow Farm – a working farm with a cow, pigs, goats and chickens.
In recent weeks, a mountain lioness and her three nine-month-old cubs living on the reserve have come too close to visitors, said Cori Skinner, Public Affairs Officer for the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.
Mountain lions usually run and hide when they see people, Skinner explained.
But the mother and her three cubs – who have just learned to hunt – who live in Rancho San Antonio have become accustomed to people, approaching too much and walking along the trails with them, she said.
"Under normal circumstances, they do not pose a threat," Skinner said of lions. "But, not like the Yosemite Bears, when they get used to it too much, it becomes a security issue for locals and mountain lions."
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is rescuing and working with the district to lure lions further into the reserve, biologists presenting a deer carcass as bait, which triggers the closure of the park.
The closure of an entire reserve due to the activity of mountain lions is very rare, but it is the district protocol when using bait, said Skinner.
"If we are able to move her away from neighborhoods and trails, she will be able to live happily on this reserve," Skinner said of the lion's mother.
Doors leading to the car parks of the reserve will remain closed until the authorities determine that there is no threat to public safety. Said Skinner.
It is not known how long the closure will last, but information on the reopening of the trails will be available on the district website. right here.
But in the meantime, the authorities recommend that if you happen to spot a mountain lion, keep your children and pets nearby, step back slowly and try to look big, face the animal, hold you right, make noise and wave your arms.
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