CAT CALL; LION INCIDENTS INCREASE AS WINTER WEATHER NEARS.

Byline: Tom Stienstra San Francisco Examiner 

It's been nearly two years since the last fatal mountain lion attack in California, but concerns were piqued this week in West Hills, where trackers chased an elusive mountain lion that has been stalking a neighborhood.

The Department of Fish and Game has received nearly 800 incident reports in the past two years. The DFG's Steve Torres, one of the West's top wildlife experts and author of the booklet ``Mountain Lion Alert'' (Falcon Press; $6.95), is holding his breath that no attacks will happen.

``We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll make it through the year,'' Torres said.

He said the onset of winter is a particularly critical time in the Central Valley foothills because as snow arrives in the Sierra Nevada, deer migrate down to their winter range in the foothill country. Mountain lions, which eat an average of one deer per week, follow them right down and find themselves encountering people on the outskirts of Sierra foothill towns.

But any region that has both deer and mountain lions, such as the Simi Hills, Santa Monica Mountains, Angeles National Forest and Bay Area foothills, can provide the setting for an encounter. Mountain lions killed people in California for four straight years, from 1992-95, but the past two years have been mostly quiet - except for surprise encounters that ended without attack.

Here's a 10-question true-false quiz, provided by Torres:

1. Mountain lions are commonly seen, if present in an area.

2. Mountain lions are vocal and can commonly be heard, if present.

3. In the past 100 years, there have been only 15 documented fatal mountain lion attacks in North America, but 75 percent of the attack incidents (66) on record have occurred since 1970.

4. Mountain lions are solitary.

5. Mountain lions have strict, non-overlapping territories.

6. Mountain lions feed only on fresh kills.

7. Regulated hunting has threatened the mountain lion population.

8. Mountain lions are endangered.

9. Mountain lions are aggressive toward people.

10. Mountain lions are afraid of dogs.

Now, here are the answers:

1. False. ``Mountain lions are masters of stealth, and as a rule, are rarely seen,'' Torres said. That is why repeat sightings are alarming.

2. False. ``Mountain lions are better known for their silence,'' Torres said. If you hear the cry or roar of a lion, your experience is likely a once-in-a-lifetime event.

3. True. During the past 10 years, between one and 10 attacks have occurred each year in the U.S. and Canada, with about 50 since 1970 but less than 20 before 1970.

4. True. ``Yes, mountain lions are solitary lions,'' Torres said. After breeding, the males depart quickly and take no role in rearing the young.

5. False. ``As a general rule, the home ranges of male mountain lions overlap those of several females, but rarely those of other males,'' Torres said. ``Females are more tolerant of each other than are males and their home range may overlap, but they avoid meeting each other.''

6. True and false. True, because mountain lions generally feed only on animals that they have killed, Torres said. But false, because sometimes they can feed on the kill for weeks, way after it is considered ``fresh.''

7. False. ``Hunting seems to have little or no effect,'' Torres said. He noted that several Western states which permit mountain lion hunting have lion populations that are increasing.

8. False. ``Mountain lion populations are stable to increasing in Western North America.'' The biggest threat to mountain lions is loss of habitat to development.

9. False. ``Ordinarily, this animal is very shy and wary of humans. Attacks on people are extremely rare.''

10. Mostly false. While packs of hunting dogs are capable of putting a lion in a tree, Torres said that solitary pets of all kinds, including dogs, ``are fair game.''