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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Mountain Lion Spotted in SF Yard Animal
By Jessica Dyer
Journal Staff Writer
His home in Santa Fe has recently hosted a variety of wildlife, but Craig Campbell still wasn't prepared for the show he got Tuesday morning.
When his Labrador started "going crazy" inside the house a little after 8 a.m., Campbell peered outside to locate the source of the dog's distress.
It turned out to be a cougar "loping" east across his 1-acre property on Cadiz Road, east of Don Gaspar Avenue and about 1 1/2 miles south of the Plaza.
"It was a big one," Campbell said. "It wasn't one of the little, slim, young ones."
After being alerted first by Campbell, then by calls from other people in the area, biologists from the state Department of Game and Fish arrived in the area of Cordova Road and Don Gaspar and spotted the cat around 9:45 a.m. They were able to confirm it is a mature male mountain lion that weighs approximately 150 pounds, but it slipped away via neighborhood walls and backyards, eluding tranquilization and capture.
Although it was seen in a densely populated section of town, there is ample vegetation and "plenty of places for a lion to hide," as well as a ditch along which the animal could travel, according to department spokesman Dan Williams.
There is speculation in the department that the animal has been in the same area for a few days.
"The lion apparently was fairly familiar with the area because it got away fairly quickly," Williams said. "We found both fresh tracks and, as we followed those, found a lot more older tracks which indicated that the lion had been around that area for a while and may be actually living in that area."
Campbell has lived on the same property for 22 years and said wild animal sightings are becoming more common. During the past year or so, he's spotted three deer, a fox and a family of quail in his yard.
"I got the deer on camera and the quail, but the fox was too fast and the cougar was too fast," Campbell said. "(The cougar) was just gone. I saw him for a couple of seconds and that's it. He was gone out of sight."
Campbell said he was stunned by the cougar's presence.
"I could not believe it," he said. "My wife was in the shower and I yelled, 'You would not believe this. A cougar just went by the house.'"
Mountain lions aren't strangers to Santa Fe.
In 2007, a cougar was captured at a jewelry shop on the Plaza after breaking through the store's glass door.
The previous year, there were multiple mountain lion sightings in the South Capitol neighborhood. Approximately a month after those reports, a Santa Fe County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a mountain lion in a populated neighborhood south of Santa Fe.
Williams said lion-on-human attacks are unusual but not unheard of. Family pets, such as cats and small dogs, are most in danger. Though mountain lions typically eat deer, "cats and dogs are definitely on the menu," said Rick Winslow, a Game and Fish biologist specializing in large carnivores and fur-bearing animals.
"As a general rule, that's not what they eat, but there are situations that we have had here and will have in the future where mountain lions are preying specifically on pets," Winslow said.
This year's increased snowfall could "definitely" be a factor in this mountain lion's appearance in the city, he said. Heavy snow in the mountains pushes deer and elk to lower elevations, and the big cats tend to follow.
Game and Fish issued advice on how to avoid mountain lion encounters and what to do if one occurs.
• Don't feed wildlife or attract it with nonnative plants, outdoor pet food or unsecured garbage. Pets should be brought in at night or left outdoors in a kennel with a secure top. Children should be supervised and kept inside between dusk and dawn.
• Stay aware of your surroundings, use outdoor lighting and make noise when moving around outdoors between dusk and dawn.
• If you encounter a mountain lion, stop or back away slowly — don't run. Talk to the lion calmly but firmly, stay upright and face the lion, looking as large as possible. If the lion approaches or behaves aggressively, throw objects and speak loudly to demonstrate dominance. Fight back in the event of an attack.
Anyone who sees a mountain lion is urged to call Game and Fish dispatch at 505-827-9376 at any time or the department offices in Santa Fe (476-8000) or Albuquerque (505-222-4700) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
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