Mountain Lion Leaves an Urban Trail

When Bob Wagner and John Hart moved into their new home up the hill from San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium several weeks ago, the last thing they thought they would encounter was a mountain lion in the back yard.

Now, however, they’re convinced that one is stalking their Serra Mesa street, foraging food in the middle of the night.

Investigators for the San Diego County Department of Animal Control came out Thursday to look around, and. . . .

Well, the evidence is enough to give one pause.

“Our officer sighted some prints estimated to be 3 1/2 inches in diameter,” said Hector Cazares, assistant director of animal control. “And this guy’s spent time in Africa, working with big cats. Obviously, the prints are bigger than those of a house cat (and) considerably bigger than those of a bobcat. So, yeah, we think they came from a mountain lion. I’d say the proof is pretty overwhelming.”

Some of the proof was pretty grisly. Wagner and Hart found a dead cat in their back yard Wednesday morning. It was cut in two, and part of it was buried--something Cazares said a coyote just wouldn’t do.

“The nature of the claw marks, the way that it marked its territory, the way that the cat was killed lead us to believe that it was definitely a mountain lion,” Cazares said.

He pointed out that no one in the 2900 block of Mission Village Drive has actually seen the cougar. But, in a neighborhood not far away, Peter J. Pountney, a civil engineer whose office is on Murphy Canyon Road near Balboa Avenue, reported seeing two cougars about 11 a.m. Sept. 27.

Pountney declined to be interviewed Thursday, but Bill Robinson, spokesman for the San Diego Police Department, read this account from police records:

“Pountney saw two mountain lions walking through a drainage ditch near his office. Pountney felt the lions were hunting small game in the scrub brush. He watched them for several minutes before they moved out of sight. We dispatched a helicopter and several patrol units but never saw the lions. The sightings remain unconfirmed.”

Roam the Santa Anas

Mountain lions are not uncommon in Southern California. A study commissioned earlier this year by officials in Orange County found that as many as 17 mountain lions now roam the Santa Ana Mountains, living off deer and small animals.

The study area was concentrated in Ronald W. Caspers Regional Park, a 7,500-acre camping preserve, where, in March, 1986, 5-year-old Laura Small of El Toro was mauled by a mountain lion. Seven months later, 6-year-old Justin Mellon of Huntington Beach was attacked by one in the same area.

The study, commissioned so that further attacks might be prevented, found that mountain lions are most active between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. and least active between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Lt. Ken Maehler of the local office of the State Department of Fish and Game said Thursday that cougars roam freely throughout the hilly areas of San Diego County. He said they are actually quite prevalent in and around Julian, Descanso and Guatay, where Fish and Game agents recently killed one. That animal was stuffed and mounted and is in Maehler’s office.

“It’s not commonplace to see them in the city,” Maehler said, “but it’s not un common, especially when the weather’s been dry. We’ve had a very dry year.”

Mountain lions crave deer meat, he said, and, when they can’t get enough of that, they forage for horses, cattle and goats. If deprived of that fare, they may venture even deeper into urban enclaves, hoping to nab a house cat or a dog. Attacks on humans are “quite rare,” Maehler said.

Residents Cautioned

Cazares said residents in Serra Mesa should be “watchful” for a while, making sure that children and cherished pets are supervised, particularly at night.

Maehler said anyone sighting a cougar should call the Department of Fish and Game immediately. Killing a mountain lion is a misdemeanor and carries a fine of up to $1,000 and six months in jail.

Mountain lions are not an endangered species, but they are “protected,” Maehler said.

Maehler said he has answered many calls from frightened homeowners who thought they had seen a mountain lion that turned out to be a bobcat, or, more than once, an ordinary, but large, house cat.

“Bobcats are much smaller,” he said. “They have a bobtail and weigh 30 pounds max. A mountain lion has a long tail and can weigh up to 150 pounds. They can be dangerous, especially if they’re sick.”

Maehler said he knows of definite cougar sightings in recent years in Bonita and San Carlos.