Paul Houghtaling, field biologist for the Santa Cruz Puma Project, was surprised to hear about mountain lion sightings around Neary Lagoon last month. There’s not nearly enough food or space in that 44-acre green space to support a cougar. But sometimes, Houghtaling says, a wild cat will wander until they get lost.
“They could be walking down, and then all of a sudden the sun comes up and people start coming out of their houses, and they’re thinking ‘oops!’ They’re stuck,” Houghtaling says.
No sightings have been reported around Neary since June 17. Houghtaling, supposes that, if there was a Neary lion, it’s gone now. It might have snuck out the same way it came, probably along the railroad tracks, he says.
“Another possibility is that maybe there wasn’t a lion,” Houghtaling says. “Sometimes word gets out, and suddenly other people are seeing mountain lions, and reporting them.”
Whatever the cause of that sighting, there have been plenty of others lately. The four sightings by Neary between June 14 and June 17 came shortly after a different lion got trapped in an aqueduct near Ocean Street. There have also been sightings in Watsonville. Santa Cruz Police deputy chief Steve Clark says there have also been more recent Santa Cruz sightings near High Street and Archer.
Houghtaling says lions born in the early summer or late spring stay with their moms until they reach about 18 months old. The ones that have been seen were probably males born in the fall of 2011. They might be looking for space from other males, who are very territorial and need lots of space, and from their mothers.
“Something facilitates the separation, whether it’s the mom saying ‘you guys are bigger than me, I can’t keep feeding you—you’re on your own,’” he says, “or sometimes hormones just trigger them to get restless.”
