These pictures came in at about 9pm tonight via the ACT email loop. I put a Google Map below with a pin at the approximate location described in the email.
From: Richard W: "These pictures were taken from the end of our driveway, looking NE. The ridge where I spoted the lion is maybe 200' and just accross a small canyon from the end of our driveway. Whew!"
Bonnie R added in the thread that it is "an adult mountain lion hanging out on the ridge between the ends of Coate Court and Sunset Ridge Road today around 1:50. It appeared to wander down the hill toward the top of Sunset Ridge or in the canyon behind the houses."
Sameer E photographed this bear on 6/28/2008 at around noon time. He recently posted the picture in response to Brian L's sighting reported on the ACT email list.
Here's what Brian reported yesterday: "I was driving home tonight (Saturday 7/26/2008) at about 8:30 PM and was entertained by a bear roaming around on the road by the bridge over the wash at Rubio Canyon for a good minute or so. This guy looked pretty good sized to me."
Upon seeing Brian's and Sameer's reports, neighbor Sidarth D posted this on the SHN email list: "Yesterday, we had a bear in our driveway for the first time. We had left our garbage can outside unfortunately by mistake, and it was rummaging through the garbage can. Our daughter took these shots. I don’t know if this is the same bear that was seen in the Rubio Canyon bridge, but it could be as we are quite close to that." (I think this sighting was on Zane Grey).
Marianne W also reported a sighting: "We had a sighting on Tanoble and Loma Alta on Friday night at about 9 or 9:30 p.m. It was going south on Tanoble, and then headed up the hill in between houses up to Skyview. A news truck was also driving around trying to get pictures. We notified the Sheriff station."
Friday night on Stonehill Drive we had a family of raccoons in the back yard (a mother and four juveniles), and Saturday morning we were a bit stumped at how they had managed to tip over the huge Allied Waste container. Perhaps the tipped can was actually the bear. Whatever tipped our can must have been unimpressed with what was in our can, because the kitchen bag was torn open, but it was left neatly on the lid of the can, and no trash was strewn around.
Below is Doris F's contribution to the bear sightings: "Well, actually it was the bear's contribution, and it was quite a while back. However, within the last week, a bear was seen where Loma Alta terminates at Pinecrest, so it is probably the same one. Also, within the last month or so, two mountain lions were seen in Eaton Canyon. They were spotted by at least one family who lives on the rim off Altadena Dr. by Crescent."
It's unclear if this is the one bear, but it's clear that there are one or more bears living in the neighborhood.
Keep the photos coming if you can get them safely. Most importantly, be safe. Don't approach wild animals, especially not just to try to get a photo.
---------- PS: Wow, I just googled "Altadena Bear" and found this video from February this year. There's not a whole lot of info beyond the date, February 19, 2008, the YouTube handle, "MaryToep", and the subject of the post, "Unplanned Altadena visit":
Hi Jeremiah, Thanks for mentioning my blog! Just to clarify: I don't have any photos taken right after the fire.
The first photo I posted was taken in February, 2008, and the second only a month later (making the growth spurt seem even more prolific). The fire occurred in August, 2007.
This amazing shot of a mountain lion was posted on the ACT mailing list this morning with a caption reading in part, "Photo taken by JPL employee Wednesday,1-16-08, looking down into the Arroyo Seco from the bridge from the JPL east parking lot to the JPL campus."
PS: Just heard about today's Altadena wild fire when I logged on to post this video. From all accounts, the weather is cooperating, and they're hitting it hard with air power from the start (unlike '94). Fingers crossed.
Neighbors may recall a post in January with pictures of deer and a concern being discussed about the ever tamer deer attracting mountain lions.
Well, last night I got the email below via the neighborhood email loop (you can subscribe here).
So on our way out to dinner (yum) this evening we stopped at the trail head to see what kind of kill it was David had seen. We easily found the carcass of a young doe.
Sure looks like the work of a lion to me. I took a few pictures with my phone. Note the wide shot where you can see Norah standing just off the road through the trees. That's where the carcass is.
Today we found a fresh mountain lion kill about 50 ft off the road across the street from my house at the top of Tanoble Dr. It is right by the trail head for the crest trail. Please be careful if you are hiking in the trails!
We should be careful about assuming this was a mountain lion kill without some more information, like a sighting. Certainly coyotes are much more common and quite capable of killing a deer (they are known to kill elk). According to www.sheepscreek.com/rural/pred.html mountain lions cover their prey. Coyotes are apparently known to eat the abdominal cavity of their prey, sort of how it looks in the pictures. Not that it couldn't be a lion. We certainly have them, and we should all be careful on the trails and avoid hiking alone.
Checking in more than a day late and some short. I agree with Patrick. Lions generally break the neck of their prey. If there were tooth marks on the neck, that might tip the balance toward lion. Pug marks in the dirt would prove it. Too late now though. Although I seriously doubt that a bear was responsible, we did have lots of evidence of bear activity a week or so before that, including one lovely "gift" discovered in the yard on a morning scat scan. Note: Don't leave the gate open. Photos available on request.
Thanks to Isaac for the tip off. CBS2 News is reporting that a mountain lion was tranquilized and removed from a yard near Pine Street and Fair Oaks. According to CBS, sheriff's Sgt. M. Jacobs said that Edison Elementary School was locked down as a precaution.
Doris Finch dropped by today to report on her sightings of bear, coyote, coy-dog (maybe) and fox (past tense). Thanks Doris. We haven't seen anything with claws over here lately, but we do have a small family group of deer that graze our hillside. They are quite tame, so Norah was able to walk quite close to them and snap a few pics. Unfortunately the light was a bit low for our digicam so they mostly came out blurry. You can check out the ones that more or less came out here. (There are also some interesting recent insect pics to see at that link.)
I have been wondering if we should try to frighten the deer so they don't become too used to people. I remember in the story of Gentle Ben (a grizzly), when it was time to send him off into the wild, the boy tossed fire-crackers and things to make him shy of people. I must admit, I worry about tame deer attracting mountain lions further down. Our new kitties are strictly indoor cats. We lost our two previous cats recently, suspecting coyotes, but as Isaac pointed out, it could just as well have been the mountain lions.
At 1/03/2006 10:30 AM,
doris finchI recommend frightening the deer for a number of reasons: said...
I recommend frightening the deer for a number of reasons, the cougar attraction being a big one. They can also be awful pests in yard and garden and their ticks do carry Lyme disease, though it is still pretty rare out here. My son, when hiking in the Sierra, was bitten by a deer tick [Ixodes pacificus, which I identified under the microscope] and later tested positive for lyme Disease antibodies. Luckily no symptoms. Lastly, have you been reading about deer attacks in other areas with overpopulations? One guy died of his goring. I've thrown away the NY Times in which the account appeared, but it was a pretty good source.
If I ever get the coyote image from my house sitter, I'll pass it along.
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