Residents’ Sightings of Lions Taken in Stride

Mountain lions are often spotted in hilly residential neighborhoods throughout the San Fernando Valley, so Judy Mitchell wasn’t exactly surprised when she saw one walking along her street Thursday evening.

Neither were her neighbors nor animal control officers, who say it’s a common occurrence in the local mountains, where the animals have lived long before houses were constructed.

“We’re moving into their territory,” said Jackie David, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles Animal Services, which handles animal control.

Animal services doesn’t have the resources to keep track of mountain lion sightings, David said. But he said the agency seems to get the most calls during spring.

“There’s really nothing we can do unless the animal appears to be injured or is posing an immediate threat, like attacking a pet or a person,” David said. “We won’t track them.”

Some residents are frightened and frustrated officials won’t do more.

Mitchell and several of her neighbors on Reyes Drive say they saw the lion shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday. Mitchell said she and her husband had just driven away from their home for a dinner outing and immediately phoned animal control to report the lion.

“It was big and looked like a cross between a leopard and a lion,” Mitchell said. “I reported it, but every time I call animal control they say their hands are tied, that they can’t do anything.”

In the 10 years she has lived in the area, Mitchell said, she has reported more than 20 lion and coyote sightings.

Animal control officers have visited the area several times and distributed literature on how best to deal with mountain lions, which can grow to be more than eight feet in length and weigh 130 to 150 pounds.

“I’m more worried about the coyotes than the lions,” said George Schulman, also a Reyes Drive resident. “I don’t think a mountain lion would attack an adult.”

The California Department of Fish and Game estimates that between 4,000 and 6,000 mountain lions live in the state, but only 12 attacks on humans have been reported since 1986, spokesman Pat Moore said.

“About 99% of the time mountain lions run away,” Moore said. “I have sympathy for their concern, but when you live on a busy street, you look out for cars. When you live in the mountains, you look out for animals.”

Carol Serber, another Reyes Drive resident, agreed and said she believes some neighbors may be overreacting.

“Sure I’ve seen the lions, but I also see deer and bunnies,” Serber said. “That’s why I live up here. People have to take this into account when they move into this area.”