City halts feral cat plans after puma sightings

Jackson Bell

More sightings this weekend of a mountain lion prowling near the

Grayson Power Plant has prompted city officials to not allow a rescue

group to continue trapping and removing feral cats living in the

area.

Security guards spotted a mountain lion roaming about 2:30 a.m.

Sunday in an ABC-Disney parking lot, 830 Sonora Ave., city officials

said, adding that a puma was also seen about 11 a.m. Monday in Griffith Park.

DELTA Rescue representatives, who worked this weekend to remove a

colony of feral cats, were told Monday afternoon that the safety of

power plant workers and residents takes priority over safely removing

the felines, said Elaine Aguilar, assistant to City Manager Jim

Starbird.

Whenever a mountain lion or coyote is found to be in a residential

area, the city asks residents to stop feeding their animals outdoors

to prevent the wildlife from being attracted to the food. That same

standard applies to the rescue group, Aguilar said.

“No food can be left out and the trapping has to cease until we

figure out how to get the lion to go somewhere else,” she said.

Mary Anne Anderson, a Glendale woman who has been feeding a colony

of the wild cats, was also told by the city to stop.

In addition to cutting off the cats’ food supply, city officials

are passing out information fliers to residents and business owners

near the power plant.

Russ Hauck, the city’s park ranger supervisor, said it was his

recommendation to Aguilar to cut off of the cats’ food supply.

“Whether or not the feral cats are the reason for the mountain

lion being there, they are providing an attractant,” Hauck said. “And

continuing to provide food for the feral cats will continue to

attract the lion. Our goal is to remove the mountain lion.”

Anderson on Monday declined to comment on the city’s decision, but

said one-third of the colony’s 22 cats were removed by DELTA Rescue

over the weekend.

But Elisabeth Kollar, spokeswoman for the rescue agency, is

disappointed that the city won’t provide them the additional week and

a half needed to remove the wild felines. She added that another

colony by the Los Angeles River is attracting the lion, not

Anderson’s cats.

“In our opinion, [the city] is using the mountain lion as an

excuse because the city doesn’t want them anymore,” Kollar said.