One young mountain lion was released Tuesday evening in the
hills west of Morgan Hill, with the hope that it would stay away
from civilization. It was wearing a new ear tag so it can be
identified if it turns up later. Department of Fish and Game
biologists said they doubted the animal would meet up with its
mother
– the ideal outcome – since it was quite thin, suggesting the
cat, and its two siblings, had been separated from their mother for
some time.
One young mountain lion was released Tuesday evening in the hills west of Morgan Hill, with the hope that it would stay away from civilization. It was wearing a new ear tag so it can be identified if it turns up later.
Department of Fish and Game biologists said they doubted the animal would meet up with its mother – the ideal outcome – since it was quite thin, suggesting the cat, and its two siblings, had been separated from its mother for some time.
The 6-month-old female lion – described as a teenager by biologists – was one of three discovered at 6 a.m. Tuesday in Susan Hall’s backyard in a residential area northwest of town.
Hall lives on Hazelton Court, which backs up against the grounds of Shadow Mountain Baptist School at Hale Avenue and Llagas Road. Hall called the Morgan Hill police. Then, she watched as they gathered and tried to tranquilize the cats over a two-hour period.
One was hit by a tranquilizing dart shot by Morgan Hill Animal Control officer Daniel Pina; it was captured for the evening release.
A second lion jumped over the fence, ran through the school’s parking lot – just as children were arriving – and into the street where it was struck by a hit-and-run vehicle and killed.
The third cat jumped into Carol Lillig’s yard next door to Hall’s where it hid in the bushes for a time. Tranquilizing darts had no effect and, when the cat became aggressive and tried to get into the house through a sliding glass door it was shot and killed by Cpl. Troy Hoefling and Cpl. Jerry Neumayer. To make matters edgier, the glass door was open, though the screen was shut.
Hoefling said he was extremely concerned about what would have happened if the cat clawed the screen door and had entered the house.
Interim Police Chief Bruce Cumming said he received several calls and e-mails from citizens concerned that killing the lion, referred to as cubs in early reports, was unnecessary. Cumming said his officers tried to capture the lion alive and followed Department Fish and Game procedures that dictate exactly when mountain lions can be killed. But, at the end, concern for the public’s safety predominated.
He was backed up by Fish and Game warden John Norris.
“Absolutely, they followed our procedure,” Norris said Thursday. He said he is sure the MHPD exercised the best judgment they could.
Lillig and her sons Steven, 14, and John, 11, were home and watched – from inside the house – the drama taking place in their yard. But, when the lion tried to come through the door and officers told her they would have to shoot it, Lillig told her sons to go to their bedrooms and close the doors.
“That changed everything; it wasn’t fun any more,” Lillig said. “We love animals and nature, and we don’t have a fear of mountain lions, but we were upset that they couldn’t take him alive.”
Lillig said she was sure the police did everything they could.
“It was a really unusual situation,” she said.
Police Lt. Terrie Booten monitored her forces from the second floor of Hall’s house.
“She was keeping track of where everyone was, so they wouldn’t shoot each other or anyone else,” Hall said.
Kyle Haynes, principal of the Shadow Mountain School, said he found a police car in his parking lot when he arrived for the day.
“The officer climbed out of the car and said to get the kids inside the school fast,” Haynes. “The kids were still straggling in when one lion jumped over the fence and was hit by the car.”
None of his students or staff was injured, but they certainly were interested in the cats, he said.
“The officers made it clear that they wouldn’t have killed the lion if it hadn’t become aggressive. It was kind of surreal,” Haynes said. “You don’t expect mountain lions to be running through your parking lot.”
Hall said she had been up early working at her computer when she heard a banging sound.
“There standing in the yard was this mountain lion,” Hall said. “I followed it as it walked around the house, and there were two more trying to get out.” Hall said the whole incident took about two hours, until just after 8 a.m.
“It was the most awesome experience,” Hall said. “I’m an animal lover anyway, but usually we only get raccoons, possums and rabbits.”
Once, on a trip around the yard, one lion looked Hall in the eye.
“He looked straight into my soul,” Hall said. “It was like we had a connection.”
The drugged and captured lion and its two dead siblings were taken to the Morgan Hill Police yard while Fox and his department decided what to do.
“We have three possibilities,” Fox said. “We can take it to the Fish and Game office in Rancho Cordova (near Sacramento) and hold it until we find a home for it – maybe a zoo, or we can release it back into the wild if it is old enough to live on its own.
“Otherwise we have to euthanize it,” Fox said.
At the age the approximately 60-pound cub was – about 6 months old – it probably wasn’t old enough to make it by itself. At first, the Rancho Cordova solution was favored. Fish and Game had a clean and empty cage, but Fox and Fish and Game biologist Martha Schauss worried that they did not have the budget to care for the animal. This turned out to be the case and, later on Tuesday, it was decided to give the animal a chance by releasing it in the hills west of the city.
“It has a 50-50 chance, at this point, on surviving,” Norris said. “It’s the dry season, and there are lots of small game and rodents out there. It’s a wild animal and a natural predator. We wanted to give it a chance to survive in own environment.”
Chief Photographer James Mohs contributed to this story.
