TRACKS OF THE LION ATTACKS BY BIG CATS NOT COMMON.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

NEWHALL - Wildlife remains abundant in the Santa Clarita Woodlands, but most creatures remain elusive to human visitors.

For local park volunteer Al Dey, who led a hike into East and Rice canyons Sunday, what's left behind by those creatures tells a story.

The tracks along the streams tell you what animals have been there recently, and their feces - or scat - show what they have been eating.

``If we can determine the animal life that's there and what kind of animals, we can determine the health of the area,'' said Dey, a Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority volunteer.

Coyotes, deer and bobcats are known to inhabit the 4,000 acres of public- owned parkland stretching from Pico Canyon to East Canyon, Dey said. The canyons' trails and watering holes are peppered with their marks.

And Dey estimates there were at least two mountain lions living in the canyons.

Despite reports of a fatal cougar attack last week in an Orange County wilderness trail, these big cats tend to shy away from humans, Dey said.

``They're solitary creatures,'' he said. ``They are not like what you've heard about in Orange County. They were acting completely out of context with what we know as normal mountain lion behavior.

``(The attack) tells me that the animal was very, very familiar with humans,'' Dey said. ``It lost its fear of humans. ... We don't want the animals to become visitor friendly.''

The attack was the 13th mountain lion attack on humans in California since 1890, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.

``I would be more concerned with a pack of coyotes than with a mountain lion,'' Dey said.

The omnivorous animals eat everything from rodents to vegetation and, in times of food shortages, garbage from encroaching back yards and Dumpsters.

``They're nature's garbage disposal,'' Dey said. ``Some animals are very adaptable, but some animals have a tendency to eat certain things.''

Felines such as bobcats and cougars eat only meat, and their stringy, blackened scat contains undigested fur and bones, said Dey as he picked apart some found along the trail.

``Basically, an animal's life is to eat and reproduce,'' he said. ``If you disrupt that, you upset the animal's way of living.''

The most recent disruption for these woodlands was last year's Simi Fire, which blackened more than 108,000 acres between Piru to Santa Clarita. Dey said much of the surviving wildlife has migrated to the edge of the burn in search of food.

``A lot of the animals just went up and moved into this area,'' Dey said. ```But it's a small area, and I don't think this area can support them for too long.''

Still, there are abundant signs that life is returning, with blades of grass sprouting from blackened hillsides, and oaks and non-native scrub brush elbowing for room.

``There is a constant battle here for water and nutrients,'' Dey said. ``It would be interesting to see which plants are taking advantage of the fire.''

The first animals to make a comeback were gophers.

``They just went deeper (during the fire),'' Dey said. ``Gophers were the first things to come back after the fire. ... It was all very depressing until you see mounds of fresh earth.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) The hand, left, of Al Dey, a Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority volunteer, checks the paw print of either a bobcat or young male mountain lion in Rice Canyon, off Calgrove Boulevard. Below, hiker Mike Deck walks with Dey along a path in the canyon.

(3) Mike Deck, left, and Al Dey examine a trail in Rice Canyon for signs of wildlife, taking the same low-level visual angle that the animals would.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer