Mountain Lion Encountered by El Cerrito Couple in Wildcat Canyon

An El Cerrito couple hiking in Wildcat Canyon Regional Park next to the city encountered a mountain lion drinking from a creek Saturday morning, Patch learned today, July 7.

Julian Kaye said he and his wife Michelle were hiking with their dog on Havey Canyon Trail about 10 a.m. when he spotted the animal about 30 or 40 feet away.

The animal looked up, stared, leapt up and — to the couple's relief — departed into the woods. Kaye and his wife departed out of the woods.

The spot where they saw the cougar is about 6/10 of a mile from the El Cerrito city limit.

The encounter came the day after a inside the city limits, on Charles Street in the northern part of El Cerrito.

"We were absolutely stunned, I can tell you," said Kaye, who contacted Patch today to report the encounter. "We were stuck in our tracks."

"It looked at us and kind of assessed the situation," he said. "It jumped — almost a vertical leap — onto a rock and disappeared into the woods."

He said the encounter lasted only about two or three seconds.

"Immediately we started speaking in loud voices...," he said. "I armed myself with a large stick."

Their dog, Nandi, also became quite excited, in part because she's an African lion hound, also known as a Rhodesian ridgeback, a breed trained to hunt lions in South Africa, Kaye said.

Nandi had been distracted by a nearby herd of cows when the mountain lion was spotted, but once she picked up the scent, "her whole demeanor changed. All her hackles were raised." The couple had to restrain her to keep from running into the woods after the lion, he said.

Kaye, a retired technology specialist with Marin County schools,  estimated that the animal weighed about 70 pounds. "I did notice how beautiful and muscular it looked," he said. He described its movement too as beautiful and fluid.

"We're regular hikers," Kaye said. "We've seen other, small animals but never anything like this."

Kaye said he tried to reach the Contra Costa County Animal Services Department to report the incident but that since it was the weekend he was connected to the sheriff's department, which told him nothing could be done.

Steven Bobzien, a wildlife ecologist with the East Bay Regional Park District, said that while most mountain lion sightings are not thought to be credible, there are some that obviously are.

He noted two recent incidents in which mountain lions were killed: one found dead June 27 after being hit a vehicle at the Joaquin Miller Road exit from Highway 13 in Oakland and one shot Aug. 31 last year by Berkeley police in a residential neighborhood next to the North Berkeley's "Gourmet Ghetto."

He said the district does not have reliable data on the number of mountain lions in the East Bay, but he estimated an average of about 20 credible sightings of mountain lions a year throughout all the East Bay Regional parks, with most of them not being in the Oakland hills or Wildcat Canyon areas.

In any case, Bobzien said, there have been some credible sightings in the Wildcat Canyon watershed in his 16-1/2 years in the parks district.

For the area including Wildcat Canyon and the Oakland hills, "we think the population is kind of transient, and we think the densities are very, very low," he said.

Mountain lions can range over large distances. For the terrain in this region, Bobzien said, a female lion's home range could be around 50 to 60 square miles, while a male lion could range from 250 to 400 square miles.

Sightings of mountain lions can be reported to California Department of Fish and Game by calling 707-944-5531. If a person is in immediate danger from a mountain lion, call 911. A press release from El Cerrito police also offered these numbers in case of a sighting: police emergency at (510) 237-3233 and Contra Costa County Animal Control at (925) 646-2441.

According to the  Department of Fish and Game “Keep Me Wild” Web page about mountain lions, “More than half of California is mountain lion habitat. Mountain lions generally exist wherever deer are found. They are solitary and elusive, and their nature is to avoid humans.”

It says mountain lions prefer deer but, if allowed, will also eat pets and livestock.

The site offers the following advice to “prevent deadly conflicts with these beautiful wild animals.”

• Don’t feed deer; it is illegal in California and it will attract mountain lions.
• Deer-proof your landscaping by avoiding plants that deer like to eat.
• Trim brush to reduce hiding places for mountain lions.
• Don’t leave small children or pets outside unattended.
• Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.
• Provide sturdy, covered shelters for sheep, goats, and other vulnerable animals.
• Don’t allow pets outside when mountain lions are most active — dawn, dusk, and at night.
• Bring pet food inside to avoid attracting raccoons, opossums and other potential mountain lion prey.

More information from the Department of Fish and Game on discouraging deer is available here.

The mountain lion page offers additional advice on staying safe:

• Do not hike, bike, or jog alone.
• Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active — dawn, dusk, and at night.
• Keep a close watch on small children.
• Do not approach a mountain lion.
• If you encounter a mountain lion, do not run; instead, face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms; throw rocks or other objects; pick up small children.
• If attacked, fight back.
• If a mountain lion attacks a person, immediately call 911.

The department also has a YouTube video about mountain lions.

Following Friday's attack on a deer on Charles Street, El Cerrito police also issued advice on any encounters with mountain lions:

“Although mountain lion attacks on persons are rare, the El Cerrito Police Department recommends the following safety tips when encountering a mountain lion. Do not approach a mountain lion. Do not run from a mountain lion, but slowly walk away while facing the mountain lion. Do not crouch or bend over in front of a mountain lion. If a mountain lion approaches you, make yourself look larger by extending your arms and waving them while making lots of noise or throwing rocks or other objects at the lion. Don’t leave small children or pets outside unattended. Deer proof your landscaping by avoiding plants deer like to eat.”

Kaye meanwhile still had his encounter vividly in mind.

"It's taken us a couple of days to kind of recover from it," he said. "It's a real shocker for us to see something like this."