Mountain Lion Sightings Increase : Wildlife: For the third time in less than a week, residents spot the animals but authorities are unable to locate them.

For the third time in less than a week, residents of Porter Ranch spotted mountain lions roaming through a residential area Saturday, but searchers were unable to locate the animals, Los Angeles police said.

The most recent sighting occurred about 3:15 p.m. Saturday in the 19000 block of Winged Foot Way.

“An off-duty fireman and his wife observed a mountain lion lying down in a wash area, just sunning itself,” said Lt. Jim Cansler of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division.

A neighbor, who was unaware of the lion’s presence, turned on a leaf blower and scared the animal away.

“By the time we got up there, it was up in the hills and we couldn’t find it,” Cansler said.

The firefighter described the lion as a small cat with short ears and a short tail, possibly even a bobcat, Cansler said.

Police had also received calls Friday evening reporting a mountain lion or a pair of lions in locations within three-quarters of a mile of each other, said LAPD Sgt. Jill Niles.

The first spotting occurred about 5 p.m. Friday in the 19000 block of Pine Valley Avenue in Porter Ranch.

Using binoculars, the caller watched the mountain lion walk north on Wilbur Avenue and cross Rinaldi Street, Niles said. The animal and a second mountain lion were spotted again on a hillside above a nearby home.

At about 6 p.m. another person reported a mountain lion on a tree limb in front of a house along the 19000 block of Pebble Beach Place.

Later, a caller reported a pair of mountain lions on the golf course of the Porter Valley Country Club, Niles said.

“We think they’re going down to the golf course and picking up ducks and rabbits,” said Martin Wall, a game warden with the state Department of Fish and Game. “There’s a large population of rabbits on that golf course.”

Police searched for the animals Friday night in a helicopter equipped with heat sensors that can detect humans or animals in the dark, Niles said. They did not find the big cats.

Officers with the Department of Fish and Game spent Saturday searching for evidence of the lions but had no immediate plans to tranquilize or kill them.

Because most of the sightings have occurred in the same general area between 4 and 6 p.m., police officers have been assigned to patrol the area today, Cansler said.

“So far the cat hasn’t done anything unusual,” Wall said. “He hasn’t made any threatening moves.”

“Food, water and shelter--that’s what they’re after,” he said. “You eliminate any one of them and you’ve controlled the animal.”

The sightings are the latest in a recent spate of mountain lion encounters.

Last month, a mountain lion was spotted roaming through the back yards of Porter Ranch homes. Several officers from the LAPD and Fish and Game tracked the animal and nearly captured it--hoping to tranquilize it and take it back to the wild--but it escaped.

In Fillmore, where a dog was mauled and killed by a mountain lion, residents have demanded that a lion be killed or trapped. Since December, a mountain lion has been spotted several times in residential areas.

Police and animal-control officials advised residents to be watchful of small children and animals and warned against leaving food outside.