Big cat caught on camera leads to mountain lion fears in South San Francisco
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - There is a heightened sense of awareness, and in some cases fear, after the first deadly mountain lion attack to hit California in two decades.
Two brothers were attacked on Saturday in El Dorado County, according to the local sheriff’s office, leaving one of them dead.
For Jason Glines of South San Francisco, who lives near a wooded area surrounded by hills, a four-legged visitor in his backyard had him worried.
"Kind of like, you know, scary," said Glines, about getting an alert on his cell phone, just after 7 o’clock Tuesday morning about motion in the backyard. "Looked at the camera and saw a very large cat on the fence."
Glines shared surveillance footage of the cat walking along his fence.
"Realized we were looking at a possible mountain lion," said Glines.
His biggest fear— his little dog named ‘Pepper' being in harms way.
The family called the South San Francisco Police Department.
Officers then posted a photo of the animal on social media, warning the community about a mountain lion sighting, out of an abundance of caution.
"I’m curious where it came from, yeah," said Erik Christensen, who lives in the neighborhood. "I haven’t seen any mountain lions here before."
KTVU checked with the Mountain Lion Foundation, to get their take on the suspected mountain lion.
"It’s a security camera, the lighting can be funny, the distortion, but to me, it looks a lot like a house cat,"
Josh Rosenau from the Mountain Lion Foundation told KTVU.
We got a second opinion from an expert at the Bay Area Puma Project, who agrees it was not a mountain lion, adding that sightings of mountain lions increase after a recent attack or incident.
If a mountain lion approaches you, experts caution against running away.
Instead, make yourself look bigger and scarier by yelling at a mountain lion. If that doesn’t work, start throwing things at it.
And if a mountain lion attacks you, fight back.
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