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SAN DIEGO — Uncommon sightings of mountain lion activity in downtown Oceanside made new followers of the city prowler, however days later, specialists marvel if the identical animal has been felled.
Police reported a mountain lion was fatally struck by a automobile at 7:25 p.m. Friday simply north of the San Luis Rey River, NBC San Diego reported Saturday.
The San Diego Humane Society was notified by the California Division of Fish and Wildlife in regards to the cat’s loss of life late Friday, spokesperson Jordan Frey stated by electronic mail.
“Based on CDFW, this animal was a youthful male lion, seemingly a disperser,” she stated, referring to the youthful cat’s tendency to journey forward of meteorological spring.
“It’s troublesome to say if it’s the similar lion that was being reported within the space this week,” Jordan continued, “as that is the time of 12 months the place younger mountain lions will begin to disperse and search territory of their very own.”
The animal was being checked out by Fish and Wildlife officers, NBC San Diego stated.
Sightings earlier within the week in downtown Oceanside, a metropolis residence to 172,000 individuals the place U.S. Marines from adjoining Camp Pendleton take pleasure in liberty and go away time at bars and craft breweries, had been captured by safety video.
At the least one cat, perhaps extra, made the scene at a movie show, alongside Coast Freeway, and at Oceanside Metropolis Corridor’s parking storage, officer Tom Bussey of the Oceanside Police Division advised NBC San Diego.
“These interactions are extremely uncommon,” Megan Senour, an knowledgeable on human-wildlife interplay on the California Division of Fish & Wildlife, advised the TV station.
Regardless of the segregation, mountain lions are legion within the nation’s most populous state — and half of the state is taken into account mountain lion habitat, Senour stated.
The mammals occupy mountains, hills and wildlife corridors with dense brush and infrequently come nose to nose with people, specialists have stated. They will journey alongside wildlife corridors at a price of 10 to 12 miles a day, Andy Blue, campus director on the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Middle, advised NBC San Diego.
One cause individuals is likely to be seeing extra of the wild cats is a proliferation of safety video cameras is choosing up mountain lions on beforehand incognito travels, Blue stated.
“They’ve in all probability been in these areas all alongside, and we simply by no means actually had been conscious of it till you’re seeing it in your digicam in the midst of the night time,” he stated.
The cats are topic to the state’s “particular protected species” designation, which outlaws the possession, transport, importation or sale of any mountain lion half or product, together with taxidermy mounts.
