Wapsi Square Forum

One evening early this last week, my wife Gwen was lounging in our pool when she heard a rustling from the back corner of the yard, and a very large cat popped into sight and jumped to stand on the top of a garden statue of a doe we have at the edge of the tree area. It stared at her for a while (she was immersed in the pool and still, so may not have appeared human), hopped down and explored the back side of the pool area, decided not to walk on the wet plastic pool cover, gave her another baleful look, retreated into the trees and vines, and she heard it jump up onto the fence to the neighboring house and depart. Total time, perhaps 5 minutes.

She described the cat as "as big as the doe" - twice the size of the largest Siamese and other cats we've seen in the neighborhood. Dark-tawny coat, charcoal markings on the face. It was big enough and feral enough that it scared her... and she doesn't get spooked by cats!

One possibility is that it was an extremely large house-cat - bigger than any we've ever seen around here. I've asked via the neighborhood email list whether the neighborhood is host to a particularly huge Siamese or similar breed, but the only reply involves a cat that we know well... big, but a lot smaller than what Gwen saw.

The other possibility which comes to mind is that we were visited by a bobcat. They're usually shy around people, but I wonder whether one may have come down out of the hills due to the drought (possibly following one of the creek beds - we've had deer enter our neighborhood having come down that way). I showed her some pictures of a bobcat this evening and she said "That was the face!"

It might even have been a very small mountain lion... her description of the dark "kabuki-mask" markings on the face and the tawny coat seem to match. She thought it was probably heavier than the 20 pounds of a typical bobcat, but mountain lion adults run to more than 60 pounds. Maybe a juvenile male trying to find new territory?

In any case it wasn't the usual sight to expect in an urban Silicon Valley back yard.

I wish I had seen it!

Some years ago there was a family of cougars living in Seattle's Discovery Park . . . just north of downtown.

--FreeFlier

Never seen a live wildcat in North America, but it sounds more like a mountain lion/cougar/puma than a bobcat, unless Western bobcats are bigger than Eastern. I thought they were just slightly bigger than a very large housecat--which is still nothing to mess with.

If it stops back again and asks about Pablo, it's a jaguar, of course.

Stare it down- never turn your back on it. You have a VERY young cougar... and they are a proposition of "who's hunting who?". When game gets sparse, they will go into suburbia- fortunately they are remarkably solitary animals. Dogs and cats become fair game for these critters.

Sgt. Howard wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 10:10 am Stare it down- never turn your back on it. You have a VERY young cougar... and they are a proposition of "who's hunting who?". When game gets sparse, they will go into suburbia- fortunately they are remarkably solitary animals. Dogs and cats become fair game for these critters.

We spent some more time looking at photographs, and that's what we concluded. Gwen recognized the chiseled, angular look of the face - quite different from the rounded face of a domestic cat or a bobcat. I measured the deer sculpture it was standing on - 32" from tail to nose - and the cat was just about that size not counting its tail (which Gwen said was not a short bobcat-type tail). The coloration was also a better match for a cougar.

Further research turned up several press stories of mountain lions having been seen a couple of miles from here in Palo Alto, and there was one back in 2009 which was seen near Mountain View's Rengstorff city park only about a half-mile from here, followed, darted, and relocated up into the hills.

We're located almost exactly between two of the local urbanized creek-beds (Permanente and Adobe Creeks) which run from the foothills down into San Francisco Bay. We've had deer come down the creek channels in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if this cougar did likewise.

I imagine the cat was confused, and perhaps a bit miffed, by the rigid and inedible nature of the "deer" it had so skillfully stalked.

You need to report that to the authorities . . . police or the fish & wildlife department - so they know there's a cougar in the area.

If it sticks around they'll probably try to trap and relocate it.

--FreeFlier

FreeFlier wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:16 pm You need to report that to the authorities . . . police or the fish & wildlife department - so they know there's a cougar in the area.

If it sticks around they'll probably try to trap and relocate it.

Has been done. The city delegates that sort of thing to the county Animal Control division, so I sent them a full report earlier today.

Also notified the Santa Cruz Puma Project - they're the ones who track, and occasionally tag and collar cougars in this area. The one which was darted and relocated back in 2009 (less than a mile from here) was known to them - when tranquilized it had one of their GPS-tracking collars on it.

Good.

Cats aren't as notional as bears, but they're a lot sneakier, and quite dangerous if they lose their fear of humans.

--FreeFlier

FreeFlier wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:04 am Good.

Cats aren't as notional as bears, but they're a lot sneakier, and quite dangerous if they lose their fear of humans.

--FreeFlier

Which is why, at least at one time, in some jurisdictions, a big cat that had been removed more than a certain number of times was put down.

AnotherFairportfan wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 11:42 pm

FreeFlier wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:04 am Good.

Cats aren't as notional as bears, but they're a lot sneakier, and quite dangerous if they lose their fear of humans.

Which is why, at least at one time, in some jurisdictions, a big cat that had been removed more than a certain number of times was put down.

bears too.

And then there's the idiots that feed them . . .

--FreeFlier

The big cats are among humans' few natural predators. Which is part of our very strange relationship with cat species in general.

The larger predators, and some pack predators, don't really fear humans... but do respect them.

(A few of the very largest and/or more isolated, such as polar bears, don't really even respect them.)

A wolf pack will hunt a lone human if they think the human won't be able to get back to a group of humans.

A leopard will drop out of a tree onto the last human in a group, and drag the corpse back up the tree before the other humans have time to turn around.

Some South Asian country, I forget which one, it became popular when going out into the jungle to wear fake glasses that appeared to put eyes on the back of one's head... it caused a dramatic decline in people being killed by predatory cats... but only for three or four years, then the cats figured it out...

Warrl wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 12:18 pm Some South Asian country, I forget which one, it became popular when going out into the jungle to wear fake glasses that appeared to put eyes on the back of one's head... it caused a dramatic decline in people being killed by predatory cats... but only for three or four years, then the cats figured it out...

Do not try that tactic against the Australian drop bears. It only enrages them.

Dave wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 3:07 pm

Sgt. Howard wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 10:10 am Stare it down- never turn your back on it. You have a VERY young cougar... and they are a proposition of "who's hunting who?". When game gets sparse, they will go into suburbia- fortunately they are remarkably solitary animals. Dogs and cats become fair game for these critters.

We spent some more time looking at photographs, and that's what we concluded. Gwen recognized the chiseled, angular look of the face - quite different from the rounded face of a domestic cat or a bobcat. I measured the deer sculpture it was standing on - 32" from tail to nose - and the cat was just about that size not counting its tail (which Gwen said was not a short bobcat-type tail). The coloration was also a better match for a cougar.

Further research turned up several press stories of mountain lions having been seen a couple of miles from here in Palo Alto, and there was one back in 2009 which was seen near Mountain View's Rengstorff city park only about a half-mile from here, followed, darted, and relocated up into the hills.

We're located almost exactly between two of the local urbanized creek-beds (Permanente and Adobe Creeks) which run from the foothills down into San Francisco Bay. We've had deer come down the creek channels in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if this cougar did likewise.

I imagine the cat was confused, and perhaps a bit miffed, by the rigid and inedible nature of the "deer" it had so skillfully stalked.

I have hunted problem cats in the past- I will never do it again. Too many close calls (you're not allowed to use dogs in California).