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Utah mountain lion video highlights human/wildlife conflicts Video of a mountain lion following a hiker near Provo, Utah, made its way to news stations across the country, Tuesday, reigniting discussions about sharing space with wild animals. Days earlier on the Front Range, Deer Creek Canyon as well as access to Black Bear Trail were closed on Saturday due to reports of mountain lion activity. It reopened Tuesday morning after wildlife officers attempted to locate the lion from the reports, but were unable to track it down. While mountain lion sightings are less common in Mesa County than other areas of the region, they still have a presence in western Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Randy Hampton said there have been 691 mountain lion reports submitted to the agency this year. Of those, 197 have come out of the western region and 35 out of Mesa County. There have not been any mountain lion attacks or aggressive behavior reported in the northwest region of the state

Oakland Zoo takes in 2 mountain lion cubs orphaned by NorCal fire The Oakland Zoo took in two mountain lion cubs who lost their mother in the Zogg Fire in Northern California, officials said. The kittens lost their mother and possibly another sibling in the fire, which also injured the now-famous  Captain Cal , a male cub rescued by a firefighter last month and taken in by the zoo. “We also plan to introduce these two lil’ ladies to Captain Cal,” the zoo said in a tweet. Wildfires have burned more than 4 million acres in California this year, Cal Fire officials said. The Zogg Fire burning in Shasta and Tehama counties has charred 56,338 acres and resulted in four fatalities. It was 99% contained as of Monday morning. The wildfires in Northern California have severely impacted wildlife. While there’s no data on how many animals have died in the destructive blazes, there have been numerous reports of  bears and mountain lions  suffering burns and lung damage as a result of the fire in re

  Utah runner stands up to cougar in frightening 6-minute video Editor's note: The video above is from Aug. 2020 and is not related to the encounter in this story. A video of a Utah man's frightening 6-minute face-to-face encounter with a cougar in the wilderness has gone wild on social media. It's also proving to be an example of what to do if you ever encounter a mountain lion. Kyle Burgess was out on a run through Slate Canyon near Provo on Saturday when he came upon a cougar cub,  he told KUTV . Minutes later, a larger cougar appeared and began stalking him. "I was like, 'Oh. That's mom right there. I'm screwed,'" Burgess told KUTV. The video shows the cougar continuing to follow Burgess as he tries to retreat, occasionally charging toward Burgess. "Go get your babies. Go away," Burgess said in the video. "This is scary. My heart is racing." But rather than running, Burgess walks away while yelling at the cougar to back off.