Somewhere in the foothills east of San Jose, a mountain lion has no idea it triggered a helicopter rescue.
NBC Bay Area reported that warning signs now greet hikers at the trailheads of Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve after a lion was reported along the Calaveras Fault Trail. The postings follow an incident late last week in which a man hiking the preserve’s Boccardo Loop Trail called 911 to say a mountain lion was following him. With spotty cell service, he stayed put two miles from the trailhead until a Santa Clara County Sheriff’s helicopter found him, landed and flew him out unhurt.
Whether he was ever in danger is a separate question. The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, which manages the 1,611-acre preserve, said the animal showed none of the behaviors that signal a hunt, no crouching, no sustained trailing. It sounded like a lion being a lion…