More Sightings of Cougars Reported

A mountain lion was spotted just a few feet from a Thousand Oaks home Thursday, the morning after another cougar was seen near McGrath State Beach in Oxnard.

In Thousand Oaks, state Fish and Game officials said they have no immediate plans to track a mountain lion that has been prowling a North Ranch neighborhood for the past two weeks.

Sunfield Court resident Mary Havens called police Thursday morning after she saw a big cat walking on the other side of her four-foot back yard fence, which abuts a steep hill.

“I thought I was losing my mind,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

Havens said she made sure her 5-year-old son was safely inside the house before dialing 911.

“He was a good-sized cat,” she said. “He moved very gracefully.”

Havens’ home is in the same Thousand Oaks neighborhood where a cougar prowled a hillside menacingly close to several homes twice last week.

Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Moore said wardens have yet to investigate the North Ranch sightings.

“We are getting tons of reports,” Moore said. “There are just a ton of mountain lions out there.”

Moore said 1994 was a record year for mountain lion reports, and he expects 1995 sightings to surpass that. He said about 6,000 lions roam the state today, double the number alive last year.

“Mountain lions are back with a vengeance,” he said. “And they are running out of habitat.”

In Oxnard, a cougar was seen running along the Santa Clara River toward McGrath State Beach on Wednesday, but authorities said that there was no cause for alarm and that they had no plans to track the animal.

Fish and Game Lt. Chris Long confirmed a report of the sighting, which he said is “not anything out of the ordinary.”

Long said the river bottom was a logical habitat for mountain lions.