A mountain lion has been spotted nearly every day this week in the city of San Carlos.
While most of the sightings were captured on outdoor security cameras, several were in-person. One sighting occurred in the middle of the city in broad daylight on Wednesday.
“We determined right away that it was definitely not an adult,” Justin Dellinger, a carnivore researcher with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said. “It was a young animal about the size of a Beagle. It was about 25 to 30 pounds max, and it likely did not get there on his own.”
Dellinger told KCBS Radio that, as hoped, the small cat disappeared at night, likely scooped up by its mother.
“We wouldn’t normally consider that an area that mountain lions would be hanging out in,” he said.
The other sightings were in more remote neighborhoods, and Dellinger said it's not uncommon for people’s pets to disappear between dusk and dawn.
“Natural selection has sort of geared them in a way that they don’t turn their nose up at low hanging fruit,” he added.