Oceanside police have confirmed the recent sightings of a mountain lion prowling the streets of Oceanside this week.
The mountain lion was spotted in several areas of the city — including looking through the windows of an Oceanside movie theater — sometime between Monday and Wednesday night, Oceanside police Officer Tom Bussey said. Sightings were reported along State Route 76 at Rancho Del Oro near Ivey Ranch Park; in the 200 and 300 block of North Coast Highway near the Oceanside City Hall; and in the 1100 block of South Coast Highway.
Surveillance footage captured the mountain lion walking through a courtyard and by a parking garage near Oceanside City Hall, according to Officer Bussey.
If you see mountain lions, do not approach or disturb them, the Oceanside Police Department and California Department of Fish and Wildlife said. Avoid the mountain lion and report the sighting to police immediately by calling 760-435-4911.
If you call the department, be prepared to give the location and time of the sighting.
Police already contacted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding the recent sightings. The department is monitoring the situation in collaboration with police.
If the mountain lion becomes aggressive, hostile or is seen near a school or park, please call 911 immediately, the department said.
A human wildlife conflict specialist weighs in
As their name states, mountain lions prefer the mountains and it’s very unusual to see them in city streets like Oceanside. They prefer some dense vegetation for cover, which they find in the coastal sage scrub of Southern California, according to Megan Senour, human wildlife conflict specialist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
She said it appears this mountain lion ended up in downtown Oceanside through “wildlife corridors.” Wildlife doesn’t see property boundaries the way humans do, Senour added.
“So they use what we call wildlife corridors. So nice green spaces, drainages,…
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