NORTH : ANAHEIM HILLS : Officials Unsure If Cougar Killed Deer

County and state animal control officials appeared divided Friday over whether it was a mountain lion that killed a deer in a residential area of Anaheim Hills Thursday.

Although Orange County animal control officers did not find any lion droppings or paw prints, they say descriptions by two witnesses and drag marks in the area led them to believe it was a mountain lion.

“Only the fur and intestinal tract of the deer were found,” said county animal control chief Ron Hudson. “And there are not many animals that could consume a whole deer.”

However, officials from the state Department of Fish and Game, as well as a local mountain lion researcher, Paul Beier, said they are not certain that the attacker was a mountain lion.

“All that was found was a deer that had been killed,” said Larry Sitton, Fish and Game’s wildlife management supervisor.

He also said that the eyewitness reports of a mountain lion killing the deer were not backed up by other evidence at the scene.

“Dogs will frequently take a deer,” Sitton said, “and even drag it.”

The attack on the deer occurred about 12:30 a.m. Thursday in the 500 block of Chalice Lane. Hudson said that if the attacker was a mountain lion, he would like to tranquilize the animal and move it to a less-populated region of the state because of the danger to children and domestic pets. But the Fish and Game Department, the agency that has final say, will not allow the move, he said.

Terry Mansfield, a mountain lion expert with the Fish and Game Department, said that if the attacker was a lion, then it was “just doing what it is supposed to do. . . .”

“We have done a few relocations,” Mansfield said, “and the results are not good. Why not leave the lion alone? The best bet is to inform people to keep away from it. . . .

“Besides, where would you take it?” Mansfield asked. If the animal was moved, officials would end up “putting too many lions in one spot.” The balance of lions in any area is delicate and environmental problems are created when animals are moved, he said.

Mountain lions have been a major concern to Orange County residents as the county has grown. Two small children were attacked by lions in 1986 in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park. One of the lions was eventually shot and killed by the Fish and Game Department in Yorba Linda.