Yeah, I chose to live here for exactly that: I love it wild! I could never ever stand living in a city again, I mean I miss the City, but, for the present, I am very blessed to live in this incredible land where it really is still wild, there's places to walk endlessly where no one has ever set foot, I know it may not last, so I treasure it.
I am so sorry to hear about that attack, I know there's actually quite a few in CA, but they are so endangered there. Here they are still huge and just have massive paws, if they were scientifcally reclassified present day, It would border on 2 separate subspeices. I know how dangerous it is, but after time, you can feel the "mood" in the air. When the (wild)cats come close, the owls fly at night and the coyotes howl like crazy , it means they're killing and it's just like blood in the water for sharks. sometimes they howl so loud it wakes me up and I yell at them them to shut the heck up. They don't listen. Large illegal Indian fireworks work pretty well to mess with the wild animals when they are being naughty.