Hiker captures jaw-dropping video of unexpected run-in with mountain lion on trail: 'Go away, please'

Filmmaker Danny McGee (@mcgeee) shared a close encounter on TikTok that he had with a mountain lion.

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What happened?

The video opened with a mountain lion, which McGee also referred to as a puma, stalking him from a short distance away during his hike through the jungle. He seemed to move back slowly, talking to an off-screen companion. After a while, the animal walked away, finding a perch beside a nearby tree. McGee described it as "one of the craziest encounters of my life."

McGee also noted the mountain lion looking directly at the camera at the end of the video — a look that one commenter suggested was saying, "Go away, please."

The mountain lion was thin. It had very little fat on its body. Many commenters were concerned for the big cat's condition, sharing different theories.

"Poor thing looks hungry …" one commenter said.

"Getting that close to people and doing so in plain sight is definitely abnormal behavior that indicates something may be wrong with it," another noted. 

Others refuted those points, claiming that the mountain lion was just young and small.

Mountain lions, according to the Mountain Lion Foundation, are "solitary and elusive." They typically avoid humans. In the event of an encounter, the foundation advises not to run, but instead to maintain eye contact and appear confident. 

The National Park Service offers similar advice, suggesting that you give a mountain lion a way to escape, speak firmly, and throw objects that are easy to reach. In the rare event of an attack, it advises fighting back, and a lion can be driven away. 

Why are mountain lion encounters concerning?

While we don't exactly know the specific lion's situation, we do know that larger factors contribute to upticks in mountain lion encounters.

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The spread of human residential areas is a big one, as the Oakland Zoo has highlighted. In the United States, more people are moving into mountain lion areas. Although attacks are still very rare, this increases the likelihood of close encounters.

Hunger could have made the mountain lion act oddly. A 2018 study found that hungry mountain lions were less risk-averse, and more likely to venture near human housing developments.

Mountain lions aren't the only animals affected by habitat loss. Coyote encounters, for example, have risen across North America in recent years.

What's being done about it?

Organizations like the Mountain Lion Foundation and the Felidae Conservation Fund are dedicated to researching these big cats and raising awareness for their situation.

If you'd like to help combat habitat loss on an individual level, consider getting involved locally. There are opportunities to promote understanding of wildlife and help improve habitat.

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