Cougar kills foal near Acton, officials say

Authorities believe a mountain lion prowled onto a ranch early Sunday morning and killed a newborn horse.

Residents at the home in the 32000 block of Angeles Forest Highway near Acton heard a noise about 3 a.m. and found a trail of blood leading to nearby hills, said L.A. County Sheriff's Deputy Daryl Bonsall.

The state Department of Fish and Game was asked to investigate.

-- Stuart Pfeifer

Mountain lion enters Colorado home to grab dog

Wildlife experts in Colorado expressed surprise at news this week from a community outside Denver: A mountain lion crept into a house to snatch a Labrador retriever from a bedroom where two people were sleeping.

Meanwhile, authorities in Southern California were expressing skepticism Wednesday about another unusual report: An Orange County man says a mountain lion attacked him after he tried to pet one of the cougar's cubs. Times staffers have details on the alleged mountain lion attack.

The Associated Press, in a report from Tuesday, has the details on what occurred in Idledale, about 14 miles southwest of Denver. The mountain lion left the dog's dead body outside the house it had entered through an open door. The AP goes on:

      Wildlife officials later trapped the 130-pound male cat using the dog’s body as bait and fatally shot it. Colorado Division of Wildlife spokesman Tyler Baskfield said the cat entered the house through open French doors early Monday and fled with the Labrador after the owners woke up.

      “The people got up and looked around and saw the mountain lion’s tail leaving the house,” Baskfield said. He declined to release the homeowners’ names. The owners agreed to use the dog’s body for bait.

      Baskfield said mountain lions often stash their kills and return for them later. Although wild animals ranging from raccoons to bears might amble in through open doors and windows, “it is kind of strange for a large predator like that to come that close to the house,” Baskfield said. Colorado has an estimated 3,000 to 7,000 mountain lions.

Mountain lion caught in Sonoma County

Authorities say a mountain lion will probably moved to a state wildlife area after it was captured in the back yard of a Sonoma County home, the Associated Press reports:

Deputies and biologists from the California Department of Fish and Game were called out to a home in the community of Aqua Caliente on Thursday when a resident called to report a mountain lion sitting in a tree.

After deputies formed a perimeter around the cat, biologists shot it with a tranquilizer.

Once the woozy mountain lion came out of the tree, it was put it in a wooden box to be relocated.

Biologists have determined the mountain lion was a female, about 2 years old, weighing about 60 pounds.

A few of the latest in mountain lion sightings in California.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Photo: George Andrejko/AP

Cougar spotted in San Gabriel Valley dies after capture*

*1:03 p.m. For an update on the dead cougar and a photo, go to L.A. Now

A mountain lion found in a San Gabriel Valley neighborhood died after being tranquilized by wildlife authorities, the Associated Press reports.

The big cat was spotted sitting on a sound wall next to Interstate 210 early Tuesday, said Harry Morse of the state Department of Fish and Game.

Wardens fired two or three tranquilizer darts at the animal as it fled across three backyards. Morse said one dart hit the cat in the face and it went down in a clump of bushes.

"The shot went astray, and caused an injury that would not allow the animal to be re-released in the wild," and game wardens euthanized it, Morse said. "This is one of those unfortunate situations where an animal got into a place where it was just going the wrong way."

When game wardens tranquilize large predatory animals, 10% don’t survive, he said.

The animal shot Thursday was about 1 year old, an age when young males leave their mothers.

"It’s not uncommon for them to wander and they move about areas at night," he said, but they usually avoid people. "This one may have been totally lost."

Morse said wildlife wardens had to remove the mountain lion because it was so close to the freeway.

"Had this lion jumped over the fence and onto the 210," he said, "you would have had a hazard to people and a hazard to the lion."

Experts calculate there are 4,000 to 6,000 mountain lions statewide, the Department of Fish and Game's website says.

It was unclear if the mountain lion shot Thursday was the same big cat spotted last week in Eagle Rock.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

Mountain lion on loose in Eagle Rock*

UPDATE 2:45 P.M.: Authorities have called off the search for what they believed to be a mountain lion that made its way into backyards in Eagle Rock this morning.

Officials said they've done all the searching they can do and don't know where the animal is, what kind of animal it was or even if there was an animal running around Eagle Rock in the first place.  Capt. Wendell Bowers of the Los Angeles Department of Animal Services said it was possible that the sighting involved a bobcat, a tailless animal that can weigh as much as 35 pounds. A mountain lion has a long tail and can weigh as much as 90 pounds, Bowers said.

12:45 P.M.: Authorities are trying to track down a mountain lion in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles police received a call about 8:45 a.m. reporting a mountain lion in the backyard of a house in the 5000 block of College View Avenue, said Officer Norma Eisenman.

Several animal care agencies are on the scene trying to capture the animal. It was unclear how the animal ended up there, Eisenman said.

More details as they come in.

-- Francisco Vara-Orta

File Photo: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times