How often do California mountain lions attack? Here’s what to know if cougars are near

California is mountain lion territory — but you may never see one in the wild.

With an estimated population between 4,000 to 6,000 in California, cougars have a secretive nature and attacks are exceedingly rare, given that they share habitat with 39 million Californians.

These cats are typically found in mountains, as the name suggests, urban fringes and open spaces from foggy coastal forests to eastern deserts. There’s a group of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood Hills of southern California. Mountain lions occasionally show up in suburban Sacramento.

Their preferred prey is deer, but they’re not terribly picky. They’ll eat everything from turkeys to skunks to dogs and house cats.

These large sleek lions hunt alone, ambushing their prey with their curved retractile claws from behind and killing with a bite to the skull — which is one of several injuries a 115-pound woman’s 2 1/2 year-old dog suffered after freeing its owner from a lion in Trinity County this week.

The lion, along Highway 299 in the Big Bar area, eventually released the 55-pound Belgian Malinois from its bite after being pepper-sprayed and beat with a PVC pipe. The dog is on track to a full recovery.

How often do mountain lions attack?

Attacks on humans are uncommon. A person is one thousand times more likely to be struck by lightning than attacked by a mountain lion, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Since 1986, there have been 19 verified attacks — three of them fatal. The last recorded incident was in Los Angeles County’s Santa Monica Mountains where a 5-year old boy survived the summer 2021 attack.

Reports show few attacks in Northern California, with most having occurred in Orange County.

But in 1994, a lion killed 40-year-old Barbara Schoener in Auburn Lake Trails on April 23. It then fed on her corpse. She was the first person killed by a mountain lion in the state since 1909, The Bee previously reported.

In 2020, The Bee reported an afternoon mountain-lion attack on a 3-year-old boy hiking with his family of six in Orange County’s Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park in Lake Forest. The lion bit the child on the neck and began to drag him away until the father freed the toddler by throwing a backpack at the animal.

Records show two other mountain lion attacks at the same park, both in 2004 with the same lion. The animal killed a 35-year-old man, then later mauled a 30-year-old woman.

What to do if you see a mountain lion

Most of the verified California mountain lion attacks occurred when a person was alone.

The County of San Diego Parks and Recreation said it’s very rare to see a mountain lion, but if you live in an area where they’ve been sighted, here’s your best defense against the animal:

Don’t hike alone. If you do, avoid dawn, dusk or night hours.

Keep small children close.

Keep dogs on a leash.

Don’t approach or run from a mountain lion.

Don’t crouch or bend when a mountain lion is in view.

If approached by a mountain lion, make sure it has an escape route because they tend to avoid confrontation.