iStockphoto / Nemyrivskyi Viacheslav
Wildlife photographer Mark Girardeau was taking trail photographs in the Santa Ana Mountains near Trabuco Canyon when he came face to face with a mountain lion, or cougar.
He was out checking trail cameras, motion activated cameras designed to turn on and snap photos as wildlife passes, when a tagged mountain lion strolled right past him.
This is a straight-up alpha move from the cougar. The big cat is in complete control of the situation and knows it. There isn’t an ounce of visible fear coming off this animal as it confidently saunters past the photographer as his cameras are rolling.
Mark Girardeau told Brian Zepeda Vazquez of NBC 4 about how it all went down. He said “I was on my way up the hill to check some other cameras when I suddenly spotted her, She was sitting there, just a couple hundred feet away, staring right at me.”
Girardeau went on to say he “was nervous” because he “didn’t know what she was going to do.” At that point, he was staring down a wild animal who could have charged him in an instant if it sensed a threat.
Thinking on his feet, he moved slightly off the trail. This created an open lane for the mountain lion to safely and comfortably pass him.
The mountain lion can be seen wearing a collar in the footage. Officials identified this cat as ‘Uno’ who was named because of an injury that causes only one of her eyes to reflect light at night.
Uno received that new collar approximately two years ago, according to this video also shared by NBC 4. She is a bit of a local celebrity:
Girardeau said this was his 5th close encounter with a mountain lion. He added “It’s really awesome to see one, but you also don’t want to see one that close to you.”