Neighborhood groups on Nextdoor and Facebook are abuzz with warnings, photos, and testimonials of mountain lion sightings around the Irish Hills, Laguna Lake, and the Prefumo Creek and Los Osos Valley Road areas.
Sightings of the mountain lion started late last year, with one Laguna Lake resident witnessing a mountain lion chase her dog in her backyard in November. On Feb. 11, a mountain lion attacked a woman’s dog while she was walking it on a leash near the Laguna Lake Mobile Estates.
Resident Beverly Lu posted on Nextdoor about the incident, telling area residents how they should be taking care of their pets.
“These animals are learning to come here and hunt because of the easy pickings from people letting their pets out to roam. Please keep your animals indoors; we live on a preserve with wild animals including foxes, bobcats, and many other creatures that would like to dine on your pet,” Lu wrote. “Now this cat is in jeopardy because of his aggressive behavior because he sees this as a positive capture hunting ground.”
Ken Paglia, a spokesperson for the Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), said that the department began to set traps on Feb. 13 in order to trap and relocate the mountain lion to a more remote area of SLO County, approximately 60 miles from its current location.
“It’s not easy to trap mountain lions. And if we can trap it, then we’ll get it medically assessed, and that’s just our usual protocol to make sure it’s healthy enough to be out in the wild,” Paglia said. “Then we’ll put a GPS collar on it, and then we’ll take it to [a] suitable habitat in a more remote area in San Luis Obispo County.”
Paglia told New Times that the CDFW was made aware of the mountain lion’s presence in the area through home security footage and cellphone footage. But it wasn’t until the department put up cameras in the local trails that they saw the mountain lion for themselves.
“We kind of want to basically strike a balance between giving the mountain lion the best shot at living a life in the wild. And so that’s … the trapping, collaring it so we can kind of keep tabs on it,” Paglia said. “And then releasing it in a more remote location, while at the same time trying to minimize the possibility that this sort of thing happens again.”
According to CDFW, there’s an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 mountain lions in the state of California. Bob Hill, SLO city’s sustainability and natural resources official, said that while the city has received calls and emails from residents in the past couple of months, it’s unclear whether these sightings could mean there are multiple mountain lions in the area.
“I think that [the] frequency of sightings is episodic,” Hill said. “Over the years, sometimes there are times when we hear about sightings occurring, and then periods of time go by when we don’t.”
Until the mountain lion is trapped, collared, and relocated, Paglia advises residents to have caution when walking pets around dawn and dusk, which is when mountain lions are usually most active.
“Just on its face, I wouldn’t consider this a public safety issue. But you know, we don’t want to minimize it either, right? Because it is concerning behavior. We don’t want it to happen again,” Paglia said. “We recommend that people be careful, be mindful, don’t hesitate to make small adjustments to your daily routine, to account for the fact that … there could be a mountain lion in the area.” Δ
This article appears in Weddings 2023.