A video of a man’s heart-pounding encounter with a mountain lion around Copperopolis, California has captivated users on TikTok.
The encounter was captured in a video posted by Chris Bashaw, a 39-year-old father of three from Modesto, California, from his TikTok account @popeyemodesto. The interaction took place on August 9 while he was fishing in the Goodwin Dam Recreational Area.
A note overlaid on the clip, which has amassed 3 million views since it was posted on August 10, says: “Fishing this morning and this mountain lion was tracking me all morning back to my car.”
The footage shows the mountain lion standing still next to a tree overlooking water, staring straight ahead while camouflaged among bushes.
Bashaw is heard saying “get [away],” noting in a later comment that he “didn’t really rehearse what to say to a big mountain lion stalking me on a trail.” But the animal does not flinch and later walks toward the camera before the video ends.
Also known as cougars, pumas, panthers and other names, mountain lions can be found as far north as Canada and as far south as Chile, notes the Mountain Lion Foundation, a nonprofit.
There are estimated to be around 3,200 to 4,500 mountain lions in California, according to a count by state and university scientists.
“The greatest density is in the coastal forests of Humboldt and Mendocino counties of Northwest California, and lowest is the high desert east of the Sierra Nevada range in Inyo County,” Justin Dellinger, a large-carnivore biologist and leader of the California Mountain Lion Project effort, told the Los Angeles Times in January.
The Mountain Lion Foundation notes that “encounters with mountain lions are rare,” but understanding their behavior can enhance your safety.
The nonprofit advises that “the best way to ensure that both you and the lion may leave safely is for you to back away slowly while continuing to look as big and intimidating as possible, leaving the lion avenues of escape.
“When you encounter a mountain lion and it doesn’t run from you immediately, don’t jump to conclusions about the meaning of its behavior. It may view you as prey, or as a predator,” the nonprofit warns, noting that “stillness ought not to be equated with a lack of aggression. Lions are stealthy predators, and they cannot roar as a warning.”
@popeyemodesto on TikTok
‘A Very Large Mountain Lion With Huge Paws’
Bashaw told Newsweek that days before the encounter captured in the viral TikTok clip, he spotted a mountain lion on August 3 in the same area when he went to Goodwin Canyon to go swimming by a waterfall there.
Noting he had been hiking in the Goodwin Canyon area since he was a kid, he said: “Though I have seen mountain lions from far away a few times, I’ve never had this close of an encounter before.”
Days later, on August 9, he went fishing at the same spot by the waterfall but this time brought bear spray as well as his firearm with him.
Bashaw arrived around 6 a.m. local time as “that’s when the fish are waking up and starting to bite.” He hiked to the waterfall and began fishing for a while, but after not having any luck, he walked to a different spot. Noting that it felt a bit dangerous and hard to hike in his steel toe work boots, he decided to climb back up to the trail and head down the river a little bit.
He said: “As I rounded one of the bends in the trail, right across the small canal about eight feet wide, I looked up and saw the mountain lion right ahead of me, like he was trying to sneak up on me, but I spotted him first. I started to record the video because I figured nobody would believe that I saw a mountain lion two times in one week.”
He recalled: “As I zoomed in on him about 30 to 40 feet away, I noticed that he was a very large mountain lion with huge paws and he looked well fed. I told him to ‘get [away],’ which didn’t seem to have any effect.”
The big cat moved very quickly to the edge of the canal, “like he was going to just jump the eight to 10 foot span and didn’t make any noise at all.”
At this point, Bashaw dropped his phone, fishing pole and tackle box and reached into his backpack to draw his pistol, as he wasn’t sure which side the bear spray was on in his bag.
He said: “I looked back up and as soon as I pulled the slide back on my gun, I noticed a slight flinch, like I had already shot him or something. I then saw him turn but not leaving, going parallel like he was looking for another spot to jump and attack.”
Bashaw also “heard something” behind him and thought perhaps there was another lion.
“I grabbed my phone, fishing pole and tackle box and when I looked back up, he was literally gone. I had no idea where he went. I then walked backwards for at least 100 yards back to the bridge to go back to my car and get out of there,” he said.
When he reached his car and began putting his belongings into the trunk, he looked at the road and “saw what appeared to be that same lion walking slowly, low to the ground but straight for me.”
He then drove to Knights Ferry where he reported the mountain lion sighting to park rangers. The father of three said: “I have climbed up there several times since the incident, but I always take my firearm now, and I do not take my children anymore.”
Bashaw said he has posted about this mountain lion encounter on his social media channels to alert his friends and family who frequent the area all the time with their small kids and pets.
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