San Juan Capistrano : Tracks of Another Lion Found in Caspers Park

Officials from Orange County and the California Department of Fish and Game have scheduled a meeting today to decide when to reopen Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park near San Juan Capistrano, which has been closed since the March 23 attack on a 5-year-old girl by a mountain lion.

District parks supervisor Tony Gimbrone said the question of when to reopen the park has been complicated by the fact that the tracks of another lion were found Monday near the scene of the attack.

“I know there are lions in the mountains all around the park,” he said Tuesday. “I just don’t want them around the hiking trails and campgrounds. I want to make sure the park is safe (for visitors).”

The new tracks were discovered in Bell Canyon and, according to rangers, appeared to have been made by a cat that weighed about 70 pounds, somewhat smaller than the animal that mauled Laura Michele Small. That lion was tracked and killed by professional hunters the next day.

Animal authorities have said mountain lions generally hunt at night and are wary of humans, seldom allowing themselves even to be seen. In fact, according to Jeffery Froke, manager of the Audubon Society’s Starr Ranch animal sanctuary abutting Caspers Park, the attack on Laura was the first fully documented one in California history.

Laura, who has been at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo since she was injured, continued to show improvement Tuesday, said hospital spokeswoman Jan Walker. Walker said no date has been set for her discharge, but “she has regained movement on her right side and is talking some.”

The girl suffered some brain damage when the big cat’s teeth punctured her skull.