gunsmith
member
For those of you not familiar with CA this is a nice liberal enclave in Silicon Valley,very suburban,not rural.
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1874129&nav=5D7lNBxM
PALO ALTO (BCN) -- A series of mountain lion sightings in suburban Palo Alto Monday morning ended early Monday afternoon with a Palo Alto police officer shooting and killing the animal.
Palo Alto Police Department Detective Kara Apple said Monday that her agency got the shoot-to-kill order following a discussion with the state Department of Fish and Game and local animal control officers and naturalists.
The decision was made based on the danger posed by the animal being in such a residential neighborhood and its proximity to homes, businesses, schools and parks, she said.
"We had quite a few onlookers," Apple said. "This is about as residential as you can get."
The first report came in at about 4:45 a.m. when a delivery driver in the 500 block of Coleridge Avenue called with a mountain lion sighting. About an hour later, a couple taking their morning walk reported seeing the cat near Cedar Street and Parkinson Avenue just on the other side of Rinconada Park from the first sighting.
A third call came in around 7:40 a.m. when a caller reported seeing the mountain lion in the south end of town along Whitclem Drive about a half-hour prior to making the call.
Whitclem Drive is near the Los Altos border and nowhere near the other sightings, so while police took the report seriously, they only actively investigated the first two calls.
The 900 block of Newell Drive was put in lockdown mode at around noon after a fourth call came in. Apple said officers were conducting door-to-door and yard-to-yard searches after the lion was spotted in a resident's back yard. School officials were also notified of the sightings, as multiple schools are located in close proximity to the sightings.
The days events culminated with the final sighting - in another backyard near Walnut and Walter Hays drives, where a dog "went crazy," Apple said. The dog apparently frightened the lion into the front yard and up a tree - right next to an armed Palo Alto police officer.
The shoot-to-kill order was issued after it appeared the frightened lion was going to jump out of the tree and be on the move again. Apple said officers did not fire until receiving approval from state DFG authorities and local animal control officers.
According to those who saw the lion, it weighed between 50 and 100 pounds and was about the size of a German shepherd. Palo Alto Capt. Torrin Fischer said it is unusual for mountain lions to prowl around suburban neighborhoods.
It wasn't however, the first time a mountain lion has been spotted in the Palo Alto area. Earlier this month, two horses were attacked, likely by a mountain lion, near the Stanford University campus.
Campus officials announced that they did not plan to use deadly force against the animal, but expressed concern because the attacks occurred close to two popular hiking trails.
Mountain lions were also spotted a bit south of Palo Alto, in Pacific Grove, in March and April, where they were reportedly feeding on deer in the area. Concern was raised because lions were spotted on the grounds of the Asilomar Conference Center, very close to the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Also in March, two mountain lion cubs were killed after they wandered into a residential neighborhood in Morgan Hill.
Panic about mountain lions spread throughout California in January when two cyclists were attacked by a lion along a popular Orange County Trail. After the attack, sightings were reported statewide, including two in Dublin and one in San Jose in January. A lion was killed in Morgan Hill that month after being hit by a car.
On average, the Department of Fish and Game reports that it receives more than 400 mountain lion sighting reports each year, only 3 percent of which result in a cat actually being found to be an imminent threat to public safety and killed under the department's Wildlife Public Safety Guidelines.
Most of the reports are usually resolved by educating the public on the natural history and behavior of mountain lions, while a few are settled by modifying human behavior, such as bringing pets inside at night or installing outdoor motion detector lighting.
More than half of California is considered mountain lion habitat. In general, the animals live wherever deer are present and observe people far more often than people observe them. Studies have shown mountain lions to have a habit of avoiding humans.
The mountain lion killed Monday will likely be handed over to the state Department of Fish and Game, as is the usually the case when wild animals are killed in California.
Apple said she will gather information and provide details about Monday's incident in a news release to be issued later Monday afternoon.
http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=1874129&nav=5D7lNBxM
PALO ALTO (BCN) -- A series of mountain lion sightings in suburban Palo Alto Monday morning ended early Monday afternoon with a Palo Alto police officer shooting and killing the animal.
Palo Alto Police Department Detective Kara Apple said Monday that her agency got the shoot-to-kill order following a discussion with the state Department of Fish and Game and local animal control officers and naturalists.
The decision was made based on the danger posed by the animal being in such a residential neighborhood and its proximity to homes, businesses, schools and parks, she said.
"We had quite a few onlookers," Apple said. "This is about as residential as you can get."
The first report came in at about 4:45 a.m. when a delivery driver in the 500 block of Coleridge Avenue called with a mountain lion sighting. About an hour later, a couple taking their morning walk reported seeing the cat near Cedar Street and Parkinson Avenue just on the other side of Rinconada Park from the first sighting.
A third call came in around 7:40 a.m. when a caller reported seeing the mountain lion in the south end of town along Whitclem Drive about a half-hour prior to making the call.
Whitclem Drive is near the Los Altos border and nowhere near the other sightings, so while police took the report seriously, they only actively investigated the first two calls.
The 900 block of Newell Drive was put in lockdown mode at around noon after a fourth call came in. Apple said officers were conducting door-to-door and yard-to-yard searches after the lion was spotted in a resident's back yard. School officials were also notified of the sightings, as multiple schools are located in close proximity to the sightings.
The days events culminated with the final sighting - in another backyard near Walnut and Walter Hays drives, where a dog "went crazy," Apple said. The dog apparently frightened the lion into the front yard and up a tree - right next to an armed Palo Alto police officer.
The shoot-to-kill order was issued after it appeared the frightened lion was going to jump out of the tree and be on the move again. Apple said officers did not fire until receiving approval from state DFG authorities and local animal control officers.
According to those who saw the lion, it weighed between 50 and 100 pounds and was about the size of a German shepherd. Palo Alto Capt. Torrin Fischer said it is unusual for mountain lions to prowl around suburban neighborhoods.
It wasn't however, the first time a mountain lion has been spotted in the Palo Alto area. Earlier this month, two horses were attacked, likely by a mountain lion, near the Stanford University campus.
Campus officials announced that they did not plan to use deadly force against the animal, but expressed concern because the attacks occurred close to two popular hiking trails.
Mountain lions were also spotted a bit south of Palo Alto, in Pacific Grove, in March and April, where they were reportedly feeding on deer in the area. Concern was raised because lions were spotted on the grounds of the Asilomar Conference Center, very close to the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Also in March, two mountain lion cubs were killed after they wandered into a residential neighborhood in Morgan Hill.
Panic about mountain lions spread throughout California in January when two cyclists were attacked by a lion along a popular Orange County Trail. After the attack, sightings were reported statewide, including two in Dublin and one in San Jose in January. A lion was killed in Morgan Hill that month after being hit by a car.
On average, the Department of Fish and Game reports that it receives more than 400 mountain lion sighting reports each year, only 3 percent of which result in a cat actually being found to be an imminent threat to public safety and killed under the department's Wildlife Public Safety Guidelines.
Most of the reports are usually resolved by educating the public on the natural history and behavior of mountain lions, while a few are settled by modifying human behavior, such as bringing pets inside at night or installing outdoor motion detector lighting.
More than half of California is considered mountain lion habitat. In general, the animals live wherever deer are present and observe people far more often than people observe them. Studies have shown mountain lions to have a habit of avoiding humans.
The mountain lion killed Monday will likely be handed over to the state Department of Fish and Game, as is the usually the case when wild animals are killed in California.
Apple said she will gather information and provide details about Monday's incident in a news release to be issued later Monday afternoon.
I hope someone can confirm that it was a .223. It'll do nicely on a treed cat (head shot).
Coleridge is the NEXT STREET OVER FROM ME!!!!!
