A normally highly elusive predator was spotted prowling a Southern California town for a week until it struck gold in the form of a makeshift chicken coop behind a private home, reports officials said.
The homeowners were shocked to find a mountain lion in the shed behind their home on Saturday, April 27, the Town of Hesperia said on Facebook.
The city is about a 35-mile drive north of San Bernardino, a suburb of Los Angeles. It’s just north of the Angeles and San Bernardino national forests.
One photo shows the mountain lion looking directly at the camera from inside the chicken coop with nothing but a seemingly empty bag of scratch food between them.
“Such a beautiful cat,” someone said in comments on the Facebook post. “(Although) it must have been terrifying to see him up close.”
Police arrived first and locked the mountain lion in the shed until a wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife showed up, Kevin Howells told McClatchy News. Howells is a human-wildlife conflict biologist for the department’s Southern Interior Deserts region.
“In predator habitat, you have to secure your livestock,” he said. “It happens every day in the state of California…if there’s an attractant and it’s not secure in that animal’s habitat, they can and will exploit it. The lion of mountain would not have entered if the gate was locked. Securing livestock greatly reduces the risk of human-wildlife conflict.
Howells first determined it would be best to release the mountain lion and move it away from the house so it could return to its habitat under the cover of darkness. But the mountain lion was so scared that authorities couldn’t get it out of the coop, he said.
Due to a report that the mountain lion might be injured, Howells and his team decided to return in the morning to tranquilize it and have it evaluated by department veterinarians.
The 110- to 120-pound adult male was healthy, so authorities ear-tagged him, fitted him with a GPS collar and released him into suitable habitat nearby, Howells said.
Authorities believe it is likely the same mountain lion seen roaming the city earlier in the week.
Hesperia officials warned residents about mountain lion sightings in the city’s southwest on April 22.
“While there is no cause for alarm, we urge everyone to exercise caution when outdoors, particularly at dawn and dusk, when mountain lions are at their most active,” the city said on Facebook.
What to do if you see a mountain lion
Mountain lions are generally “calm, quiet and elusive,” according to the National Park Service. While attacks involving mountain lions are rare, they are possible.
“Even so, the risk of being killed or injured by a mountain lion is quite low compared to many other natural hazards,” the National Park Service said on its website. “For example, there is a much greater risk of being killed in a car accident with a deer than of being attacked by a mountain lion.”
Officials said there are some things you can do to prevent an encounter with a mountain lion from turning into an attack.
Stay calm and back away slowly.
Face the lion and stand up straight.
Do not approach a mountain lion, especially if it is with kittens.
Do not run. This could stimulate a mountain lion’s hunting instinct.
Pick up young children so they don’t panic or run away.
Do not bend or crouch.
Throw items at the mountain lion if it continues to move towards you.
If the mountain lion attacks, fight back using everything around you.
Report all sightings, encounters, or attacks to local park rangers or law enforcement.
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