By Gregory Crofton

Tribune staff writer

With an estimated 6,000 mountain lions roaming California, there are only about six that make Lake Tahoe Basin their home, estimates a California Department of Fish and Game biologist.

Fatal mountain lions attacks similar to one earlier this month in Orange County have occurred in California just two other times in the last decade.

One of the attacks, however, took place in El Dorado County in April of 1994 when a man running along Auburn Lake Trails was mauled and killed by a mountain lion.

Despite the grim information, the species does not look to attack humans. They work to avoid them, feeding primarily on deer and going where the deer go, experts say.

“It’s a little bit easy to be over-sensitized by attacks,” said Walter Boyce, director of the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center. “Bottom line is that most mountain lions do a very good job of avoiding us.”

Boyce just published a study that focused on Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in San Diego County. The study site, 75 miles south of the attacks in Orange County, was home to at least eight mountain lions, none of which threatened any people during the three-year study, Boyce said.

Fish and Game Wildlife Biologist Doug Updike, who has studied the species for 15 years, investigated the Orange County attack, which took place at Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park on Jan. 8.

On Monday, California Department of Fish and Game confirmed that one mountain lion was responsible for both attacks.

The lion pounced on Mark Reynolds, 35, while he a worked to fix a broken chain on his mountain bike. Several hours later the same lion grabbed a woman by the shoulder and neck after she and a friend spotted Reynolds’ abandoned bike on the trail. The woman survived her injuries.

Updike said the cat likely attacked the woman because it was defending its kill, Reynolds’ body, being kept by the lion about 40 yards from the trail covered in grass and sticks.

Updike said he has no clue why the lion pounced on Reynolds. The lion, later put down, wasn’t starving, and the park where the attack occurred contained plenty of deer.

“The only thing that seems to be common is that victims oftentimes are alone,” Updike said. “I think if you’re accompanied by a pet or another person (you have a better chance of being ignored).”

Animal experts at the lake say they know for sure that a few mountain lions live at Tahoe. Cheryl Millham, of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, says one lives atop Echo Summit, another on Spooner Summit and possibly a third at Kingsbury Grade.

About a month ago, Carl Lackey, a wildlife biologist for the state of Nevada, spotted fresh lion tracks on Kingsbury.

“They’re there, we’ve captured them before,” Lackey said. “We had one collared for a while by Zephyr Cove and it hung out for about a year. They’re not in great numbers because supply of prey is pretty limited and habitat is pretty well broken up.”

Lackey, in May 2001, was called in to dispose of a 150-pound female found floating in Lake Tahoe. The cat, which probably drowned, was spotted off the shore of Zephyr Cove by a casino boat captain.

If there is ever a time to be on the lookout for mountain lions at Tahoe, winter is not that time. The minuscule amount of danger the cats present for humans decreases as snow drives deer into the foothills, according to Updike.

Updike said the population of mountain lions in the state in the last 10 years has been stable or in a slight decline. In California, it’s illegal to hunt for mountain lions. In Nevada, it is legal to hunt the animals with a permit.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.