I am heartbroken that this little man hasn't been found yet. I have two young boys and I cannot fathom the pain the family is feeling over his disappearance.
I have been playing catch-up for days however I did want to comment on a couple of things. I grew up in Southern California with the Cleveland National Forest abutting my back yard. In fact, my family owns the land that goes down the canyon behind their home and up to the forest. I've always been keenly interested in nature and the outdoors and volunteered for years starting at around age 7 for various Nature Centers. When I was 12, I was trained and became a docent of the Santa Monica Mountains Nature Conservancy. I've spent much of my life outdoors whether hiking/camping/fishing in the summer or snowboarding the mountains in the winter... I just realized I've been snowboarding for 21 years [just turned 35 a few weeks ago so it's still a fresh wound!].
I have had quite close encounters with more than one Mountain Lion and innumerable encounters with coyotesand bobcats. A couple with black bears. Firstly, every one of these species whose territory is being lost to development in larger areas like Southern California have begun to show a frightening aggression toward human beings where they used to avoid us out of fear. It's a simple concept, we're taking their food sources and they're adapting. While this doesn't appear to be the case in this situation it is plausible that DeOrr could have very quickly spirited away from his family. Also, there have been cases in these types of predatory animals of rogue behavior--- just as in most species [especially humans!].
My experiences.... Firstly, was about 11 years old out in the pitch black in my parents hot tub which sits about 10 feet from the canyon drop. Turn around and out of nowhere there was a Mountain Lion. It did not appear to be stalking me but I basically made myself as large as possible [at 11 I think I weighed like 60 pounds and was just over 4'! lol] and began making wild sounds., banging anything I could find and it scampered off.
Coyotes. These are deceptive. As you know they hunt in packs and are wildly loud and raucous. However, when they find potential prey they will send out one particular animal. As my friend and I were camping in the Santa Monica Mountains with her 80 lb brown lab Scarlett, I noticed her stalking off toward the field.... Instantly, I knew what was next. They had sent out a lone male scout to "befriend" the domesticated dog and lure her back to the pack and serve her for dinner. Knowing coyotes are generally skittish around adults [I was like 23 this time], I grabbed my metal flashlight, a stick and again made myself as big and aggressive as possible. They had gotten Scarlett [whose furmama refused to keep her on a leash until this point] about 20 yards from where we were sitting at our picnic table in the dark. With my friend staring at me in shock, I'm screaming, banging my flashlight and making myself look like a raving lunatic to try to end this encounter and frighten off the coyotes. THankfully, it worked and Scarlett was safe and stayed right with us the remainder of the trip. I fear, in this case, instead of Scarlett the chocolate lab being silently lured toward a ferocious pack, could a sweet toddler have thought the coyote was just a friendly dog? Up until I began my banshee screaming, the attempted abduction of Scarlett was totally silent. I just happened to notice quickly what was happening because I've been around these animals and in their territory for years.
Finally. my most frightening encounter was when I took my ex-boyfriend [my hottie English ski instructor] camping up near Big Sur. We were in a small but relatively populated campground. Coming from England, my bf was amazed at all the signs warning of large predators. In fact, I think he was scared shitless! [And he'd served in the British Army in Northern Ireland for Pete's sake]. Wearing a headlamp, I started making dinner at dusk, and tossed some ribeyes onto the campfire. I glance up and see the distinct reflection of eyes. Feline eyes. I could make out iits shape/build and knew right away it was a ML and it stayed just beyond the treeline, stalking and beginning to circle our campsite. So, since it'd worked before, I employed my usual tactic and stand on top of the picnic table banging our blue ceramic plates together and making noise and getting myself on "higher" ground. My BF at first didn't know what the heck I was doing but when I nodded in the direction of the treeline, he instantly saw the cat staring us down also. I'll never forget that look on his face [though that could have been because of my looney-toon tactics to try and get this hungry-looking carnivore to look for dinner elsewhere]
That cat did begin to back away but continued to "stalk" us from the treeline for a good 20 minutes after that. I think I had to "hold" my macho BF that night! Again, the stealth of this animal was intense. If I hadn't had my headlamp on and seen the eye's reflecting back at me, this could have had a very poor outcome.
In one of my first apartments with my husband several bikers were attacked and mauled by a very predatory ML basically in the suburbs. It was in the Aliso Viejo area of Orange County and I believe two women lived but a man had been killed earlier that day by the lion. These are Apex predators -- in the category of Grizzly bears and their relatives in Africa and Asia!
While I think that it's most likely a terribly tragic accident [I definitely lean toward drowning -- children can drown in VERY shallow water and it is silent also], I think all avenues still need to be further explored.
As for the video of the "family friend" camping with them though, my opinion is certainly brought into doubt.
Alright, just wanted to share my experiences with these animals in a predator/prey situation and now I've gotta cathch up on the rest of the posts. I made the mistake of running errands today with the kids; 98 F but the "feels like" was 108. I thought my flip flops were going to stick to the pavement. I miss that dry SoCal heat in comparison-- and that even in summer it cools off. I feel like I'm being slow-roasted on this bayou. Watched Shark Week last week though and apparently I live in a preferred nursery for bull sharks and they tagged wayyyyy to many mature bull sharks in Lake Pontchartrain for me to ever swim there again... I've been swimming in water I knew contained alligators down here but I NOPE right out of sharks... [Funny as I'm SCUBA certified too lol].
I'm still hopeful for little DeOrr though, miracles can and do happen. I've got two who are my bous and two little sisters whose existence and health can only be considered miraculous with the odds they've faced as infants and young children.