Locals question mountain lion killing

Posted: Jul 7, 2010 6:12 PM by Nancy Chen
Updated: Jul 7, 2010 11:10 PM

Questions are being raised after a mountain lion was shot and killed yesterday in a San Luis Obispo neighborhood.

The cat appeared in a backyard in the four-hundred block of Jeffrey Drive near Foothill Boulevard.

The Department of Fish and Game shot the animal for safety reasons when it started to run off after being hit by a tranquilizer, but some locals are asking if killing the mountain lion was necessary.

"I was resting in my backyard, playing with my dog, and Cy (my husband) was watering the garden and then he looked up in the tree and said, 'There's a mountain lion in the tree, get in house,'" said Jessica Bany, the owner of the property where the mountain lion appeared.

Officials used a tranquilizer to bring the mountain lion down but say they had to shoot and kill it after it tried to jump a fence.

"There's too many variables here. there's children in the area," said Mark Crossland, a Department of Fish and Game lieutenant who was present at the mountain lion's shooting. "There's a school nearby. There's too many other safety considerations that would preclude any other option."

Despite the proximity to homes, however, some locals felt that more should have been done to save the animal.

"I felt the life could have been saved and have a brand new life at a zoo or at a sanctuary where it could grow and be happy," said Bonnie Sampson, a Grover Beach resident.

Several viewers on the KSBY Facebook page argued the cat could have been saved. Officials say killing the animal was a last resort and that public safety has to come first.

"We, in our agency, certainly want to protect the animal, and we do everything we can to protect it," Crossland said.

These appearances aren't unheard of on the Central Coast. A mountain lion had to be killed last year in an Atascadero post office parking lot; there was a similar incident in front of the San Luis Obispo police station two years ago.