WOODSIDE, Calif. -- At least eight confirmed mountain lion sightings in San Mateo county during the past few months prompted a community meeting on Tuesday night in Woodside. It was the second of two urgently-scheduled meetings to brief residents on mountain lion safety issues.

Representatives from the Sheriff's department, the California Department of Fish and Game, and the California Cougar Project met with about 30 residents. They said mountain lion sightings are relatively rare but that most of San Mateo county is mountain lion habitat and so it's not surprising that mountain lions and humans are encountering each other.

"We're in their world," said Ryan McCoy of California Fish and Game.

In fact, experts say mountain lions are fairly shy animals and when people see them, the lions are usually just passing through. They say that's probably what a mountain lion was doing when it was struck by an SUV on Highway 92 last week.

"When an animal is just crossing through an area of good habitat," said Deanna Dawn of the California Cougar Project, "it's basically just going from one part to the other, so it's not that they would be spending time in residential areas necessarily or freeways."

Experts advised residents that if they encounter a mountain lion, don't run, try to appear as large as possible, make a lot of noise and if attacked, fight back as hard as possible. But they said since 1890, there have been only 16 confirmed mountain lion attacks on humans in California, and ten of those people survived.