Los Angeles Times reporter Francisco Vara-Orta was quick to jump on the case of an alleged sighting of a mountain lion in the Eagle Rock vicinity on the morning of May 2nd 2008. Local police had received calls just before 9:00 am pertaining to a mysterious large cat prowling the backyard of a house on the 5000 block of College View Avenue. Usually in these kind of cases, when authorities turn up there is no sign of the suspected animal, but on this occasion several officers caught a glimpse of the elusive felid which was seen fleeing close to 2479 Niagara Way.

However, rather worryingly, hordes of officials then swarmed upon the area. Not only were the LAPD quick on the scene but people from the California Dept of Fish and Game and also members of the LA Department of Animal Services.

Thankfully, the animal was never found despite a search until 2:00 pm. Officials stated that the animal on the roam must have been a bobcat, although this cat differs from the mountain lion (puma, cougar) in that it has a short tail. A Captain Wendell Bowers stated, "We have reports of bobcats more frequently, but not any of mountain lions."

In my opinion, this is no reason to dismiss such reports. My research of eighteen years into sightings of 'out of place' exotic felids across the world has proven that whilst driven from their more remote habitat, large cats such as the mountain lion will travel towards towns, often on the hunt for small prey and able to elude witnesses by prowling at night. The Los Angeles County sheriff's helicopter picked up the animal when the hunt was on but attempts to round the cat up and tranquilize it were fruitless. On this occasion this may have been a good thing and one must ask as to why so many officials were eager to scour the area when surely there were more important incidents to investigate ?

This always remains the case with such situations and surely can only cause panic instead of security. An elusive, shy mountain lion is certainly far better than an angry, agitated and cornered beast. An Eagle Rock resident stated, "This is the first time I've heard about a mountain lion in the area".

In the February of 2006 a mountain lion was tranquilized in the Altadena area. Schools were shut down until the cat was hauled away. Despite attacks on humans in California, bees, stags and dogs cause more deaths each year. Proof that the mountain lion needs to respected and protected and not turned into a monster. The Dept of Fish and Game mentioned that up to six-thousand cougars roam California, and yet scepticism still arises elsewhere in the US that such animals still exist despite the persistence of sightings.

Photo by the author.

Source: LA Times