3 mountain lion sightings in Palo Alto
REPORTS COME FROM MIDTOWN AREAS
By Chuck Carroll
Mercury News
Animal control officers and law enforcement are looking for at least one mountain lion reportedly sighted this morning in three highly urbanized locations in Palo Alto.
``We're going to keep looking until we're confident it's gone,'' said Palo Alto police Capt. Torin Fisher.
A deliveryman reported the first sighting at 4:45 a.m. in the 500 block of Coleridge Avenue, just south of Middlefield Road and Rinconada Park and near Hays Elementary School.
At 5:40 a.m., a couple walking in the area of Cedar Street and Parkinson Avenue, just north of Rinconada Park, called in another sighting.
The third reported sighting came in at 7:10 a.m. from Whitclem Drive, east of El Camino Real, behind the Hyatt Rickeys hotel. Word of the earlier sightings had begun to spread throught the news media by then.
In no case was the animal reported to be seen threatening anyone.
Fisher said the first two reports were ``highly credible'' because the people were able to give a good description of the animal and the proximity of the reports in space and time, Fisher said. Moreover, they occurred before word of the first two had spread.
The third reported sighting is about two miles away, Fisher said.
These were not the only recent sign that the lions favor Palo Alto. Last month, there were two possible mountain lion attacks on horses, one near Felt Lake, the second in a pasture near Stanford Research Park. Reported mountain lion sightings have grown fairly common in recent months and years in California, especially on the fringes of urban areas near the foothills. But sightings in more suburban areas are not as rare as they once were. Wildlife officials say the big cats seem to be adapting to life in urban areas as they look for new food sources and development encroaches into their habitat.
And there are more sightings, officials say, because people are more aware since Jan. 8 when a mountain lion killed one bicyclist and mauled another in Orange County. Experts advise walkers and joggers find themselves face-to-face with a cougar to raise their arms to make themselves look big. Holler. Back away, but don't run, and never bend over. If attacked, fight back. Despite the growing contact between people and cougars, experts say it's wise to keep that danger in perspective: Black widow spiders kill more humans than cougars do.
REPORTS COME FROM MIDTOWN AREAS
By Chuck Carroll
Mercury News
Animal control officers and law enforcement are looking for at least one mountain lion reportedly sighted this morning in three highly urbanized locations in Palo Alto.
``We're going to keep looking until we're confident it's gone,'' said Palo Alto police Capt. Torin Fisher.
A deliveryman reported the first sighting at 4:45 a.m. in the 500 block of Coleridge Avenue, just south of Middlefield Road and Rinconada Park and near Hays Elementary School.
At 5:40 a.m., a couple walking in the area of Cedar Street and Parkinson Avenue, just north of Rinconada Park, called in another sighting.
The third reported sighting came in at 7:10 a.m. from Whitclem Drive, east of El Camino Real, behind the Hyatt Rickeys hotel. Word of the earlier sightings had begun to spread throught the news media by then.
In no case was the animal reported to be seen threatening anyone.
Fisher said the first two reports were ``highly credible'' because the people were able to give a good description of the animal and the proximity of the reports in space and time, Fisher said. Moreover, they occurred before word of the first two had spread.
The third reported sighting is about two miles away, Fisher said.
These were not the only recent sign that the lions favor Palo Alto. Last month, there were two possible mountain lion attacks on horses, one near Felt Lake, the second in a pasture near Stanford Research Park. Reported mountain lion sightings have grown fairly common in recent months and years in California, especially on the fringes of urban areas near the foothills. But sightings in more suburban areas are not as rare as they once were. Wildlife officials say the big cats seem to be adapting to life in urban areas as they look for new food sources and development encroaches into their habitat.
And there are more sightings, officials say, because people are more aware since Jan. 8 when a mountain lion killed one bicyclist and mauled another in Orange County. Experts advise walkers and joggers find themselves face-to-face with a cougar to raise their arms to make themselves look big. Holler. Back away, but don't run, and never bend over. If attacked, fight back. Despite the growing contact between people and cougars, experts say it's wise to keep that danger in perspective: Black widow spiders kill more humans than cougars do.
