Mountain lion caught prowling in San Dimas business park

A young mountain lion collared near a San Dimas business park awaited transfer Monday to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, a sheriff’s sergeant who aided in the capture said.

The mountain lion was first spotted by a deputy about 7:30 p.m. Sunday as she patrolled a business complex around Bonita Avenue and Arrow Highway, said Sgt. Mike McGrattan of the sheriff’s San Dimas Station.

“It roamed a few square blocks,” McGrattan told City News Service.

When the lion started following a skunk on Arrow Highway, the deputies became concerned it might be struck by a car. It was also considered a danger to dogs and cats in the area.

“We cornered it in a vacant lot and called animal control,”  McGrattan said.

Officer Orlando Valderrama of the Inland Valley Humane Society told the deputies the lion was about eight months to one year old, but its gender was not immediately clear.

The lion was captured when Valderrama and the deputies put a net over it and then the officer’s noose, which is at the end of a stick to give captors safe control.

“I was inches away from it, I helped hold the net over it,” McGrattan said. “I got a close view of it’s teeth and claws. It had beautiful green eyes. It did snarl and kind of claw at us.”

With the noose around the lion’s neck, the deputies hoisted the big cat to the officer’s truck while it was inside the net.

“It was a first for me,” McGrattan said. “Very interesting.”

—City News Service