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Thursday, January 8, 2015

Two pumas spotted on Westside near UC Santa Cruz


One of two mountain lions spotted Tuesday night on Western Drive near Monarch Court, less than a mile from UC Santa Cruz. The puma galloped in front of a vehicle before bounding down a hillside toward Moore Creek Preserve. (Zoe Fairlie -- Contributed)

Tips for dealing with pumas

Noise: Raise your voice to scare the animal away.
Eye contact: Maintain eye contact with the animal.
Get big: Make yourself appear larger and intimidating.
Children: If there are smaller children, protect them by keeping them close by.

Source Puma Project
SANTA CRUZ >> What is a typical drive home for Rob Fairlie and his teenage daughter turned into a memorable encounter on Western Drive with not one but two mountain lions. About 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Fairlie and his 14-year-old daughter, Zoe, were driving north on Western Drive near Monarch Court when a mountain lion trotted in front of the vehicle. “Once I saw it on the right, I slowed down a lot,” he said.

The animal surveyed the car before galloping north on the road for several minutes, with Fairlie following safely behind at 15 mph. The mountain lion then bounded across the road and down a hillside. He thought it was odd the animal stayed on the road in front of the vehicle for so long.
Less than a few minutes after the first puma disappeared into the wild, another appeared. This puma, acting more evasively, streaked across the road and down the hillside. “I was shocked to be honest,” said Fairlie, a professor at UC Santa Cruz. “I really couldn’t believe that this animal was that bold. Then seeing the second one, I couldn’t believe it.” Fairlie isn’t positive there were two, but believes there were given the distance between sightings. A double spotting is rare but not uncommon, said Paul Houghtaling, project manager at the Puma Project at UCSC.

Though it could have been a male and female courting each other or two siblings, it’s likely the pumas were a mother with her cub. “That’s their home,” Houghtaling said. “It’s totally within reason to think that there’s a female with a large cub whose home is up against the edge of the city.” He added areas around the university such as Wilder Ranch State Park, Moore Creek Preserve and upper portions of the campus were ideal for the big cats.

Within the past few months, Santa Cruz County residents reported sightings. On Dec. 28, UCSC officials sent out an alert about a mountain lion spotted near the UCSC farm and arboretum in the evening and linked to guidelines about dealing with mountain lions.

Friday evening, nature photographer Jodi Frediani spotted three lions near the side of the road while driving to her Bonny Doon home. Frediani put her car in park and waited for 10 minutes as the animals tentatively crossed in front of her car. She said she didn’t mind waiting and was more than happy to get a glimpse of the big cats. “This is a way of life and I feel honored to share the environment with them,” she said, though she wished she’d had her camera with her.

Veronica Yovovich, a UCSC graduate student with the Puma Project, said the increased sightings could be attributed to residents confusing the big cats for other animals. Another likely explanation is the increase in population and awareness by residents. Floodlights are shining lights in areas that are usually dark and home security systems are recording images at all hours. “People are seeing mountain lions in places where they’ve always been, we just didn’t see them before,” Yovovich said.

Residents should call 911 to report any puma sightings, said Santa Cruz police Lt. Bernie Escalante.
“We have a way of using the Nixle alert system to advise people in the area or an all call system in a particular neighborhood,” Escalante said. “Ultimately we’re going to call the experts to try and find them and track them down and address the issue.”

On Nov. 27, Santa Cruz PD issued a Nixle alert about a mountain lion spotted on the 1900 block of Bay Street heading toward UCSC.

Source: Puma Project

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