By Tim Persyn
To people whose typical interactions with a feline involve simply feeding Morris, the pet house cat, Saratogan Maureen Corr's encounter on April 13 might be a shock
As Corr walked down Peach Hill Road with friend Carol Shannon, the two noticed an animal they first thought was a dog about 15 yards ahead. The animal resembled in size a large German shepherd, although it was a little taller, Corr said. But Corr soon noticed the animal's hind legs and the manner of its walk and concluded that it could not be a dog.
"That's a cat," she said to her friend. Soon, the two humans and the animal were in a staring contest for about five seconds. Corr noticed the animal's long tail and its height and size and classified the animal as a mountain lion.
"It all happened so fast. But I knew not to run. I knew to stare and take an aggressive stance," said Corr.
Eventually, the cat crouched down and made its way into an adjacent canyon, away from the two humans. Corr said she and her friend continued their walk, but picked up some big sticks for protection.
Although Corr said that she originally thought the animal was a mountain lion, she said after talking to Jeannine DeWald, a wildlife biologist with the Department of Fish and Game, that it might have been a bobcat. The two animals are often confused.
However, Corr said the animal could well have been a young mountain lion, based on its size and behavior. While the animal Corr spotted resembled a large dog in size, adult mountain lions often reach eight feet in length and can weigh up to 150 pounds.
"Mountain lions are not common anyplace," commented DeWald, who added that California has about 5,000 of the animals.
"One lion will use a large territory, and it's real secretive. It's unusual to see them," DeWald said. "Bobcats are far more common."
DeWald explained that mountain lions really aren't much of a threat. "A normal mountain lion reaction when it encounters a human is to walk the other way," she said. "They are not a big threat, but encountering one is a scary prospect."
In attempting to identify what the animal was, Corr said the biologist told her that mountain lions exhibit behavior similar to house cats. "The lion had the same sort of skittish behavior that a house cat has if you take it by surprise," Corr remembered.
The prospect of encountering another mountain lion or bobcat is scary for Corr. "I haven't been up there since, and I have no plans to go back in the future," she said.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, May 8, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved