Officials are asking Californians to be on high alert as sightings of mountain lions and wolves roaming near human trails continue to rise on the West Coast.
Seth Watts, the Vice President of the American Bear Foundation–California Chapter and a game hunter, captured eerie footage on his trail camera of both apex predators in Tehama County.
One such clip showed a pair of wolves hunting in the wild on January 19 while another video featured two mountain lions prowling earlier this month.
On January 25, Watts also spotted two Northern California Wolves in the same county but was unsure if they were the same animals he spotted six days before.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is urging anyone who sees an animal they think may be a wolf to take a picture, write down the exact location, date, number of animals, and what they were doing, according to Action News Now.
According to data from the CDFW between April to June 2024, the largest known pack of wolves is in Tulare County – with 15 adult wolves, six juveniles and seven pups.
Watts’ rare sightings come after pack of gray wolves were spotted in California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park for the first time in a century in November 2024.
The carnivores, which were last seen in the area in the 1920s and remain endangered under the Endangered Species Act, were spotted again in the form of a small pack – following almost 100 years of federal protection.
A clip by game hunter Seth Watts showed a pair of wolves strolling in the wild on January 19
Mountain lion attacks are exceedingly rare and the last fatal encounter in the state occurred in 2004, according to CDFW records
Another video featured two mountain lions walking among grass earlier this month in Tehama County
A mother, father and their two pups were detected by a camera trap just south of the sprawling expanse in Northern California, the US Forest Service said – showing how the once endangered speech is in the midst of recovering.
However, the return of the majestic animal comes with a warning from officials not to get too close.
While wolf attacks are rare, they are not entirely unheard of as the carnivores are known to follow hikers.
Experts, however, have attributed this behavior to curiosity rather than predatory interest.
In the past 100 years, there have been fewer than 30 documented attacks by wild wolves on humans in not only the US, but North America as a whole – with only two dying after contracting rabies from bites suffered in Alaska in the 1940s, according to reports.
However, carrying a canister of bear spray is advised, officials said, as the animal can become aggressive toward parties it views as competition to its food source.
But while officials cite no danger, many locals have been left concerned about their safety with the increased appearances of wolves as well as mountain lions after Watts’s videos went viral.
A pack of gray wolves were also spotted at the Lassen Volcanic National Park for the first time in a century in November 2024
While wolf attacks are rare, they are not entirely unheard of. The carnivores are sometimes known to follow hikers
In March 2024, Taylen Brooks was attacked and killed by a mountain lion while he was hunting for shed antlers in remote Georgetown, California, with his brother Wyatt Brooks, 18.
During their deadly encounter, the 21-year-old and Wyatt tried to make themselves look larger, yell and back away slowly, but to no avail.
The wild beast pounced on the younger brother – sinking its fangs into his face. As Wyatt fought back, the lion clawed his face and then turned his attention toward Taylen.
As the animal fastened its jaws on Taylen’s neck, his arms went limp. He was then dragged off the road into a nearby bush.
The attack was the first deadly mountain lion attack in two decades.
Wyatt soon called 911 to say he and his brother were attacked, leaving him with ‘traumatic injuries to his face,’ according to the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office.
The teen added he had been separated from his brother during the assault.
First responders arrived at the scene about 20 minutes after the 911 call. They began treating the 18-year-old and launched a search for the 21-year-old.
‘Shortly after the search started, they located a man down, and next to that individual was a mountain lion in a crouched position,’ Kyle Parker, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, told KCRA 3.
Police said Taylen’s lifeless body was dragged by the mountain lion to another location while his brother searched for help.
Pictured: Taylen Brooks, who died after a being attacked by a mountain lion
Brooks’s brother Wyatt Brooks, 18, (right) was also attacked but survived, according to El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office
Deputies fired shots to scare the lion off before finding that Taylen was already dead.
The animal was captured by wardens and trappers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. It was euthanized near the scene of the attack, the sheriff’s office said.
Mountain lion attacks are exceedingly rare, and the last fatal encounter in the state occurred in 2004, according to CDFW records.
Since 1890, there have been fewer than 50 verified attacks on humans in California, only six of which have been fatal.
Prior to Taylen’s fatal mauling, the last time a mountain lion killed someone in the El Dorado County area was in 1994 when marathoner Barbara Schoener’s mutilated body was found in the isolated trails in Auburn Lake area.
But John Chandler, a trapper for El Dorado County for the past 25 years who also responded to the attack on the Brooks’ brothers, believes the situation has worsened.
‘It’s gotten crazy. You don’t realize how many lions are walking through neighborhoods at night but the spread of security cameras has shown how many are out there,’ he told Yale Education 360.
‘We have more mountain lions than we can deal with and there are a lot more lion encounters.
‘Way, way way more. And they [the lions] have changed a lot. They aren’t afraid of people anymore. They aren’t afraid of dogs.’
