San Bruno couple says mountain lion broke into home - a cat burglar
‘Glass was just everywhere’: Homeowners describe mountain lion that crashed into their San Bruno home
San Bruno homeowners describe what it was like encountering a mountain lion that crashed into their home through a window. Officials say it was likely attracted to taxidermy animals mounted on the home's interior walls.
SAN BRUNO, Calif. - There was a cat burglar — quite literally — in San Bruno, less than a week after another big cat sighting in San Francisco.
"My eyes locked on this huge animal and I went, 'What the hell is that?' " said a woman identifying herself as Rose.
Her husband, Steve, answered her question: "A mountain lion on our couch."
Rose says she "did a quick U-turn to the bedroom."
It happened at about 12:20 a.m. at their home on Ross Way near Skyline College. Their property backs up to open space.
The mountain lion leapt from a fence through a window, shattering it.
"Glass was just everywhere," Rose said.
"He went up in the living room and then, you know, he felt trapped, so he was running around, he knocked over a TV and couple of things," Steve said.
Authorities say the mountain lion may have spotted Steve's taxidermy trophy heads mounted on a wall. One's a bison, the other an elk.
"You can't blame the animal if he saw something he might have thought, you know, it was a meal for him," Steve said.
Neighbor Cantrez Triplitt agreed.
"Clearly the mountain lion did not know they weren't real, and he's clearly hungry and wants some food," Triplitt said.
Steve shooed off the animal, and it ran out the same window it came in. The couple's taking everything in stride, pegging it all to mother nature.
"Wildlife had the land before we did," Steve said. "We're encroaching on theirs."
Wildlife officials say they've heard of other cases in which mountain lions broke into homes - after seeing their own reflection in the window,
"It's not very common, but it has happened in the past," said Patrick Foy of California Fish and Wildlife. "And there's no real way to understand exactly what has motivated those animals to do that."
Rose said, "I have never ever experienced anything like that in my entire life."
Officials are trying to see if the mountain lion had a tracker on it. It's unclear if the cat is hurt. Steve doesn't think so, saying, "The cat's OK and we're OK."