Doorbell cameras recently captured at least one mountain lion roaming around an Atascadero neighborhood.
“It was walking right next to his house, and from the video, I could see it walked right by this gate and was probably heading across the street to my house,” said neighbor Lynn Ayers.
“It was between the house next door, and he was crouching to hunt,” added Atascadero resident Marlene Corwin.
“The first time a little ways from the kitchen window and the second time under our picnic table and crouching like he's hunting,” said Anne Arnett.
Arnett used to walk near her house every day but tells me she is now scared to go outside.
“Now everywhere I go I'm looking up, and it inhibits my walking and exercise on this street. I want to go somewhere and walk now,” Arnett said.
Ayers has lived in her home near the mountain lion sightings on Chauplin Ave. for 45 years.
“That was the first time we have seen a mountain lion so close to town,” Ayres said.
Brandon Swanson with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife says they’ve received two reports of mountain lions in this area in the past two weeks.
“We generally have always let our cats go in and out and we're thinking we will not give my two cats the freedom to do that now,” Ayers said.
Swanson says Atascadero has a lot of deer, which attract mountain lions since it is their main food source.
Swanson also says mountain lions are driven by their stomach, so they will come out whenever they are hungry.
Fish and Wildlife will only get involved if the lion interacts directly with the public, livestock, or pets. He says he doesn’t feel there is a concern for anyone at the nearby high school at this time.
“We don't live in fear, but I certainly don't want my cats to become a mountain lion meal,” Ayers said.
If you do happen to come across a mountain lion, Fish and Wildlife says don't turn your back on the animal, make yourself as big as possible, be loud, and even throw something at the mountain lion if needed.
