Sylmar braces after recent mountain lion attack on pit bull dog

A young, possibly weaned, mountain lion roaming the Sylmar neighborhood has residents wondering if the feline could be targeting a human.

On the night of August 10, Yasmin Lopez’s father was walking his pit bull, Gigi, in Oakridge Mobile Home Park when the cougar pounced on the dog. Unable to fight, he ran for help. Following the attack, a nearby neighbor honked the car’s hornscaring the cougar. Gigi is believed to have died at the scene, fittingly a Facebook post.

“Gigi was a happy girl with my family for the six weeks I had her,” Lopez wrote in a Facebook post. “She really brightened my days and was a joy to be around.”

Thursday night, the Sylmar Neighborhood Council addressed residents’ concerns about the danger posed by a mountain lion aggressive enough to attack a leashed dog at its owner’s home.

Council President Kurt Cabrera-Miller said officials have confirmed two sightings at Veterans Memorial Regional Community Park in the past two days, but downplayed the threat to people.

“This cougar is looking for either food or an exit,” Cabrera-Miller said. “But he’s no longer inclined to attack people.”

Korinna Domingo, director of Cougar Conservancy, told the roughly three dozen attendees at Discovery Charter Preparatory School that cougars don’t typically attack humans but prey on domestic animals, rodents and coyotes.

“There’s never zero risk when you live in cougar country, and a lot of Sylmar is cougar country,” said Domingo, who conducts mountain lion field research. “We can take steps to minimize the likelihood of having those negative interactions.”

Pet safety was a major concern at the meeting. Cabrera-Miller, who owns a Great Dane named Scooby, says his dog would pounce on the big cat if given the chance.

“My dog ​​jumps on the TV when he sees horses,” he said. “They would think a cougar is just another dog.”

Domingo said residents can assemble an enclosurethe components of which can be purchased at any large home improvement store to protect pets from wild animals. Cougars — capable of jumping 15 feet high — can easily scale typical walls and fences.

However, one board member noted that Oakridge Motor Home Park does not allow metal enclosures. Domingo says there are other ways to stay protected, such as walking during the day or using a flashlight during night walks, using a standard leash six feet long or less, walking in groups of two or more lots of clapping or loud noise. make noises through the air horn to scare the cat.

“Be aware of your surroundings, avoid listening to your favorite podcast or the latest album on your headphones,” she said. “As a recreationist and wildlife biologist who works in the field, I often hear wildlife before I see it, so this is a really important point.”

Owners of pets or livestock that are threatened or killed by cougars can obtain a depredation permit to destroy the predator. Domingo said about 100 cougars are killed each year in California after incidents with pets.

City officials say they have not determined if there are more mountain lions in Sylmar. The animals are extremely territorial, according to Domingo.

Males do not usually breed with other males, but one may coexist with up to three females.

“Depending on where your houses are in their territory and where they overlap, you can have anywhere from two cougars to three or more cougars in your area,” Domingo said. “And that’s why we really emphasize, you know, prevention early on, because there’s likely to be more than one Oak Ridge roaming around.”

Robert van de Hoek, a retired wildlife biologist, says the feline could be a juvenile male lion, recently weaned from its mother and chased away by older males hunting deer in the hills.

“Adult males are very territorial, even with their sons,” said Van de Hoek, who grew up in Sylmar.

Their main food source is the large deer population in the hills surrounding the Sylmar homes, said Van de Hoek, who has been spotting deer in the area for about 15 years.

“There are deer behind El Cariso Park and LA Mission College, Lopez Dam and next to another county dam further up the Pacoima River,” he said. “And so the mature male lions will stick with that deer population. Younger males are forced to eat and prey on smaller mammals.”

Determining the identity of the lion or several lions could take some time. Tagging and bucketing is an underfunded process, Domingo said.

“The California Department of Fish and Wildlife he generally doesn’t have collars for every animal at a time,” Domingo said. “They operate with extremely limited resources, with collars or tags that are placed on wild animals such as cougars.”

Fish and Wildlife Information Officer Tim Daly says the agency has been trying to contact Gigi’s owner. “An attempt was made to reach the owner of the pet in this situation, but we were unable to connect,” he said via email. “In general, when pets are taken by wild animals and are on a leash – we try to contact the pet owner by phone or email to provide safety information to hopefully prevent another similar incident . When a pet is unattended (not walked or leashed), that wildlife behavior is considered expected behavior.”

If the lion becomes aggressive, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will have to step in, said Officer Vanessa Rodriguez of Los Angeles Pet Services. In a non-emergency situation, the city can only kill an animal if it is injured or sick.

Rodriguez says the agency will continue to monitor the area, looking for lion dens and providing property inspections to determine what elements might attract wildlife.

“Our hearts go out to the family for their loss. This is a very unfortunate incident and it certainly can be very traumatic for anyone involved,” Rodriguez said.