Band of mountain lions savagely attack California farm, slaughtering 15 alpacas: ‘They just killed’
A tragic mountain lion attack has left a California alpaca farm in mourning after 15 animals were killed over a three-day span, leaving their longtime owner reeling.
Julie Barr, a retired Navy nurse who has spent nearly a decade raising alpacas on her 340-acre property in Lake County—about two hours north of San Francisco—had never experienced a predator attack until last week. Now, she’s struggling to come to terms with the loss.
“They didn’t just kill one and eat it,” Barr told SFGATE. “They just killed. They’re not going to eat 15 animals. They came back two nights and killed.”
The first attack occurred on the night of August 17. Barr and her husband were alerted by a loud crash and discovered part of their alpaca enclosure had been broken—likely by the animals attempting to flee.
The following morning, neighbor Jesse Cude found eight alpacas dead and four more severely injured. He was forced to euthanize several of them.
“I had to put down like four or five,” Cude said. That night, he stood watch on the property with a shotgun, hoping to prevent further carnage. But the mountain lions returned.
“I’m just sitting there being quiet, and I see two cats run right by me—maybe 20 feet away,” he recalled. “Big cats, probably 100 pounds, running full speed toward the alpacas. Didn’t notice me, smell me, nothing.”
Two more alpacas were killed that night, and another two the following evening, bringing the total death toll to 15.
According to Peter Tiara, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, authorities confirmed the attack as the work of a mountain lion. “We showed up after the first incident—11 alpacas killed, three more injured, along with injuries to one of their livestock guardian dogs,” he said.
Initially, the agency issued a non-lethal permit. But after the lions returned, a lethal depredation permit was granted to allow the removal of one adult lion.
Tiara explained the behavior as a natural predatory response. “If they get into a pen and there’s multiple animals, they’re in kill mode,” he said. “As long as there’s movement, they’re taking out every animal they can get.”
Despite expert explanations, Barr—who grew up in a family of hunters in West Virginia—still finds the attack hard to comprehend.
“We eat what we kill,” she said. “But this just seemed a shame.”
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