ACROSS CALIFORNIA — From its beaches to its deserts and mountains, from its lakes and forests to its small towns and big cities, there’s just so much to see in California! And we got to thinking: Why not share the photos we receive, and see elsewhere, with you?

Thanks to several Patch readers who’ve been very busy lately with their cameras, we’re able to share the below photos taken across the state. Take a look at this week’s “California In Photos” for glimpses of daily life and scenery up the coast in Northern California and down the coast in Southern California.

It’s Your State, It’s Your Shot!

It’s your turn, photographers. Whether you’re an amateur, a professional, an Instagrammer or just the one who always has their phone or camera ready so as not to miss that perfect shot, we’re excited to view and share your work. If you have an awesome photo of nature, breathtaking scenery, kids caught being kids, a pet doing something funny or something unusual you happen to catch, we’d love to feature it here on Patch.

We’re looking for high-resolution images that reflect the beauty that is California and that show off your unique talents. Share your best photos with Patch and your work could be featured in your community as well as in this weekly collection of California in pictures. Email your submissions to autumn.johnson@patch.com. Be sure to include your name, the city, location of the photo and date.

Did you miss our most recent “California In Photos?” It is worth another look:

The post San Francisco At Sundown | Lion Dance For Additional Luck: CA In Photographs appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

WOODSIDE (KPIX 5) – The town of Woodside began accepting Senate Bill 9 housing applications Monday, just one day after Attorney General Rob Bonta chastised town officials, accusing them of using the idea of ​​a mountain lion habitat to skirt the new housing law.

SB 9 allows homeowners to build up to four residential units on a single family lot.

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Kara Cox is in the process of getting permits in San Mateo.

“It’s carbon neutral to provide housing on the Peninsula, so everyone’s not driving back-and-forth from Concord and Fairfield and all these outlying places where housing is more reasonable,” Cox told KPIX 5.

Terry Szeczyk owns a planning services company for homeowners and said a permitting process that used to take two years will be cut down to four months under the new rules.

“It’s much more streamlined and much easier. It’s refreshing to roll back the standards that may have existed in 1970,” said Szeczyk.

Cities like Woodside insist they’re doing their part.

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“The town of Woodside has consistently exceeded its state mandated low and moderate income housing commitments,” said Woodside Assistant Attorney Kai Ruess.

For middle-income earners, finding a home to buy in the San Jose metro areas is much harder than in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The National Association of Realtors says there’s only 1 listing for about every 3,500 households.

“SB9 is just one part of a larger puzzle for how to solve the housing crisis. SB9 is very limited in terms of the kinds of parcels and places where it makes sense,” said Matt Gelfand of Californians for Homeownership.

The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley estimates SB9 would create as many as 700,000 new units on California’s 7.5 million single-family home lots.

“Across the state where the cities and counties and towns have to plan for where they’re going to put housing for the next eight years, that’s going to be really critical in terms of determining whether we actually solve this crisis,” said Gelfand.

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Cox said, “At this point, density is necessary and I think there are appropriate places to do it.”

The post What Is SB9? Legislation Challenged By Woodside On Mountain Lion Grounds Goals To Add A lot Wanted Housing – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

A mountain lion was caught Wednesday night in San Francisco and is in the care of the Oakland Zoo.

California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife said data collected from the puma’s radio collar showed it was the same animal sighted on the streets of the city for the past two days.

The mountain lion was found in a tree on Santa Marina and Mission streets on the west side of Bernal Heights, about two blocks from Holly Park, according to San Francisco Animal Care and Control.

A wayward mountain lion spotted in a tree on Santa Marina Street near Mission Street in San Francisco was captured on May 19, 2021.

Ken Regal

Animal Care and Control was there first and posted a picture of the animal in the tree on social media. Captain Amy Corso has coordinated with the San Francisco Police to establish a secure perimeter.

Fish and Wildlife officials came next and shot the animal in the hindquarters with a sedative.

Mountain lion safely removed. @nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/TmOXSQcmbk

– Jean Elle (@nbcjeanelle) May 20, 2021

KCBS reported that the lion was dazed and fell asleep on the porch of a nearby house before officers tagged and imprisoned him.

San Francisco-based Ken Shelf was out walking with his wife in the neighborhood when he noticed the Animal Care and Control van and police cars.

“We stopped and asked them jokingly if they were looking for the lion and they told us he was currently in the tree,” said Shelf, who took the photo of the cougar in the tree that was shared by the agency social media. “I was scared but also a little dizzy when the worlds collided this way, such a beautiful animal that lives in the wild and roams the city at night, looking for something to do and possibly a bite to eat – just like the rest of us. “

A mountain lion was caught in San Francisco on May 19, 2021.

Quinn Klaiman

“The sedated lion was taken to the Oakland Zoo for examination and will likely be released later in a more convenient location,” said Deb Campbell, a spokeswoman for Animal Care and Control.

The Oakland Zoo added in a statement that the mountain lion is a large, healthy male of around 100 pounds. The animal was picked up by staff at Oakland Zoo Veterinary Hospital around 1 a.m. on Thursday.

A mountain lion has been sighted in Bernal Heights and the Portola District in the past two days. Earlier this week, a resident of the Portola district took pictures of the animal with a home surveillance camera.

Pumas in search of new habitat and hunting ground occasionally migrate from San Mateo County to San Francisco. There have been occasional sightings over the years, usually around Lake Merced, but the animals usually quickly realize they don’t want to be in town and return south.

A young puma was caught in the neighborhood of SoMa in June last year.

Fish and Wildlife estimates that 4,000 to 6,000 mountain lions live in California.

The post Wayward San Francisco mountain lion captured after being present in tree appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

SONOMA COUNTY (CBS SF) – Santa Rosa police said Wednesday a mountain lion was found and captured after being sedated by wildlife experts outside a home in the Rincon Valley on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Santa Rosa Police Department posted information on their social media accounts, as well as photos of the mountain lion spotted late Tuesday.

Mountain lion sighting and trapping by local non-profit organizations

A mountain lion was found in a Rincon Valley last night. SRPD officials worked with local wildlife experts / nonprofits who sedated him and took him for medical treatment. The mountain lion is recovering in a local game reserve pic.twitter.com/g8Fo9vjGRW

– Santa Rosa Police (@SantaRosaPolice) October 27, 2021

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At around 10 p.m., officials in the St. Francis Road and De Soto Drive area called for reports of a mountain lion sighting. When the officers arrived on site, they found a young mountain lion in the front yard of a residential building.

The mountain lion refused to move or leave the area despite several patrol cars glowing lights and making noise, police said. The mountain eventually began to move slowly but appeared to be injured or sick.

Officers stayed on site for nearly three hours while waiting for wildlife resources, during which time the mountain lion moved into the neighboring yard.

Police worked with local wildlife experts from several nonprofits – Sonoma Wildlife Rescue and True Wild – and an additional veterinarian, all of whom responded to the scene – as well as fish and wildlife officials. A tranquilizer dart was used by veterinarians to calm the mountain lion.

Experts from True Wild and Sonoma Wildlife Rescue took the mountain lion to a local wildlife sanctuary for observation. They said the mountain lion was a very young man, weighing about 45 pounds. It showed no obvious signs of injury or illness.

Wildlife experts planned to watch the mountain lion and conduct medical tests before determining the best course of action for the animal. The mountain lion has been in her care since Wednesday morning, he is doing well and is doing better. No additional information was available about the mountain lion’s potential medical problems.

CONTINUE READING: Young mountain lion, separated from mother, removed from Pinole Shores Park

Mountain lion sightings in the Bay Area have increased in recent months. Just last week, a wayward mountain lion instigated a lockdown in two Rohnert Park middle schools before being drugged and removed from the area.

Mountain lions have been caught in the shadow of surveillance cameras in Millbrae. A handful of residents in Oakland Hills and Piedmont said they saw mutilated deer carcasses in their neighborhood. One wildcat was even caught in a tree in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood and transported to the Oakland Zoo, while another broke into a San Bruno home full of wildlife trophies.

More than half of the state is Mountain Lion Territory, and it’s not uncommon for them to show up in unexpected places, according to officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The species usually migrates during the dry season in search of plenty of food and water, but it could travel further than usual as drought conditions increase and deer population declines, department spokesman Ken Paglia said.

“Be aware that we share the state with other wildlife, like mountain lions or bears, they are nearby,” said Paglia. “While they can be potentially dangerous, they are usually in the city looking for food resources and not there to harm us.”

Despite recent sightings, it is rare for a mountain lion to be attacked.

“We want to make sure the public is safe, but we also want the animal to live its life in its own habitat. That is probably the best solution, ”said Paglia.

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Installing motion center lights around the property, keeping pets indoors at night, and storing food appropriately are some of the ways residents can avoid encounters with mountain lions. You can find more tips and tricks from the Mountain Lion Foundation online.

The post Mountain Lion Sedated and Captured Close to Santa Rosa In a single day – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

ROHNERT PARK (CBS SF) – A stubborn mountain lion that resulted in a lockdown at two middle schools in Rohnert Park on Monday morning has been calmed and removed from the area, public safety officials said.

The Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety said both Evergreen and Lawrence Jones Middle Schools were closed after a mountain lion walked on a nearby trail in the Five Creek Trail and Crane Creek Trail area east of Eagle Park.

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The mountain lion was seen with a tracking device and is known to the State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Rohnert Park DPS told.

Fish and wildlife officials arrived around 10 a.m. Monday to calm the lion and return it to its regular migration area. As of 10:47 a.m., the lock on Lawrence Jones Middle School was lifted and the lock on Evergreen Elementary School was due to end shortly.

DPS said it received a call on Monday morning that the mountain lion was sighted on the creek path.

Mountain lion with tracking device near Evergreen and Lawrence Jones Middle Schools in Rohnert Park. (Rohnert Park Public Safety Department)

Finding the mountains beyond the Evergreen Elementary isn’t hard, and Fish and Wildlife officials say this lion didn’t wander too far.

“Technically, the mountain lion was still in its home range,” said Ken Paglia, public information officer with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It was on the far western edge of his home range, and about 300 to 1,800 feet east of his position was a wide open area. It wasn’t really out of place. “

The five-year-old female cat was previously given a collar by a local researcher and is believed to have some neurological problems.

“Our biologists have determined that it is unsafe on its feet,” said Paglia. “Perhaps something happened to the mountain lion in the past. It could have gotten into a car accident, it could have gotten into a fight, but it’s not the healthiest lion. “

“I came outside because I heard the helicopter, and then my neighbors actually told me that it was because there was a mountain lion in the creek,” said Taylor Tischbern, resident of Rohnert Park.

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Conservation advocate Josh Rosenau of the Mountain Lion Foundation says these sightings are more common between the spread of cameras and people moving further into nature.

“A lot of people move out to be closer to these forests and are then a little surprised when things suddenly come from the forest into their backyard,” he told KPIX 5.

Mountain lion sightings in the Bay Area have increased in recent months.

Mountain lions have been caught in the shadow of surveillance cameras in Millbrae. A handful of residents in the Oakland Hills and Piedmont said they saw mutilated deer carcasses in their neighborhood. One wildcat was even caught in a tree in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood and transported to the Oakland Zoo, while another broke into a San Bruno home full of wildlife trophies.

More than half of the state is Mountain Lion Territory, and it’s not uncommon for them to show up in unexpected places, according to officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The species usually migrates during the dry season in search of plenty of food and water, but it could travel further than usual as drought conditions increase and deer population declines, department spokesman Ken Paglia said.

“Be aware that we share the state with other wildlife, like mountain lions or bears, they are nearby,” said Paglia. “While they can be potentially dangerous, they are usually in the city looking for food resources and not there to harm us.”

Despite recent sightings, it is rare for a mountain lion to be attacked.

“We want to make sure the public is safe, but we also want the animal to live its life in its own habitat. That is probably the best solution, ”said Paglia.

Installing motion center lights around the property, keeping pets indoors at night, and storing food appropriately are some of the ways residents can avoid encounters with mountain lions. Further tips and tricks from the Mountain Lion Foundation can be found at https://issuu.com/mountainlionfoundation/docs/cdfw_mlf_conflict_brochure_booklet_final_2020.

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Andria Borba contributed to this report.

The post Rohnert Park Mountain Lion Tranquilized, Relocated After Prompting Center College Lockdowns – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

At the biannual Genting World Lion Dance Championship in Malaysia in 2018, a row of 21 poles with a height of 1.20 to 2.40 m lined the arena. On top of each was a platform 12 inches in diameter. Suddenly a light blue Chinese lion with white fur trimmed to the rhythm of a beating drum and clinking cymbals jumped onto the stilts. The lion cocked its head and reared on its hind legs and seemed to jump effortlessly between the bars – some even up to 6 feet apart. The Chinese lion dance is supposed to look lovely and whimsical, but beneath the colorful costume were two immaculately coordinated performers who had been practicing stunts and acrobatics for nearly a decade.

“As lion dancers, we always follow this motto that 10 years of practice equals one minute on stage,” says Calvin Zhen, who currently plays the lion head for Leung’s White Crane Dragon and Lion Dance Association, a competitive team based in San Francisco. Zhen, now 24, performed as a drummer in that competition in 2018 and has been training in the sport since he was 13. Watch the lion dance and see what the culture is like, “says Zhen. “I’ve just fallen in love with the lion dance since then.”

The lion dance is performed to herald happiness and prosperity and is an integral part of the Lunar New Year and other celebrations such as birthdays, weddings or corporate events. Mime performance has always required a certain level of style and athleticism, but over the past 30 years Chinese Malaysians have stepped up the stakes and turned the old tradition into an extreme sport. High pole lion dancers must seamlessly jump between these tiny platforms while performing stunts and mimicking the playful nature of a lion. A single misstep – which is common in competitions – can result in serious injury.

The lion dances are both acrobatic and emotional performances. Courtesy of the Khuan Loke Dragon & Lion Dance Association

“Oh, I’ve hurt myself so many times,” says Willson Hoang with a laugh. Hoang is Zhen’s partner, who played tail in the 2018 championship. The 23-year-old has been practicing the lion dance for 11 years. “Fortunately, I’ve never broken a bone, I’m very grateful for that.”

The specific origins of the lion dance are unclear, but scholars believe the custom probably began during the Three Kingdoms Period in China between the years 220 and 280. Emissaries from Persia and Central Asia gave lions to the imperial court and the popularity of cats percolated into the common classes. In addition, lions play an important role in Buddhist mythology, which spread to China in the first and second centuries.

“There are different stories about how the lion dance began, but we usually say that the lion dance was done to drive away ghosts or bad auras,” says Tony Sin, who trains and is the Yuen Wei Dragon and Lion Dance Group in Malaysia an occasional competition judge. According to a popular legend, the dance was performed to scare away the nian, a mythical animal that terrorized Chinese villagers every winter. The lion dance was joined by fireworks and the color red – allegedly also to drive away the Nian – as part of the Lunar New Year traditions, which took place in January or February. The Chinese diaspora has since spread the custom around the world, where it has changed and evolved.

The Bildkunst / Alamy collection

Sin explains that there are two main types of lions in China: northern and southern. The Northern has a shaggy red and gold coat, while the Southern comes in a range of colors and is most commonly seen on the international scene. In addition, the southern lion dance style can be divided into the Futsan and Hoksan styles. “The Futsan lion has a sharp horn on its head and its mouth is U-shaped,” says Sin, while the Hoksan has a rounded horn and a flat mouth. “The Hoksan doesn’t look that wild compared to the Futsan and is a bit cuter,” he says. Both styles can be seen in competition on the international stage.

The lion dance also has a long history associated with martial arts as the two share many athletic postures and movements. In fact, during the first half of the 20th century, the lion dance was a way for rival martial arts schools to show off their talent. For additional flair, the actors played on an obstacle course manipulated by juries made of stacked furniture, balance beams or upturned vases. As the custom spread to Malaysia in the 19th century, Chinese Malaysians took the sport to new heights.

“When the lion dance seeds were sown in Malaysia, we decided that we had to be great at it – the best,” says Master Ho Phiew Siow (translated from Mandarin) from his workshop where he makes lion dance costumes. Siow, 66, is a second generation Chinese Malaysian who has practiced the lion dance for over 40 years. He describes himself as the “leading hand” in the development of the multi-pole lion dance in Malaysia. As he strolls through his workshop, which is lined with rattan lion head frames and partially painted costumes, Siow explains that the dance was built on martial arts traditions of jumping through improvised acrobatic arenas that sometimes included wooden stilts. Working with other lion dance lovers in Malaysia, Siow helped standardize the performance arena with arranged metal stilts and a 10-point scoring system.

“We Malaysians are very persistent,” says Siow. “We wanted people from all over the world to recognize Malaysian lion dancers as the best in the world.” The first Genting World Lion Dance Championship was held in 1994, and Siow wanted a Malaysian team to win the biennial competition every time .

“We’re pretty strict on the trigger,” says Albert Fong, director of the Khuan Loke Dragon & Lion Dance Association in Malaysia. Fong himself came second in the 2000 Genting Competition as a Tail Dancer. “A small slip gets a deduction of 0.1 and can lead to losing a championship, so everything is really tense for a performance.”

The 2020 competition was postponed until further notice due to the pandemic, but 36 teams from 16 countries competed in 2018. More recently, the International Lion Dance Federation has also updated the row of stilts to resemble the Chinese character wang, which means “king,” with three parallel rows crossed by a long line.

Leung’s White Crane Dragon and Lion Dance Association trains for a performance. Courtesy Leung’s White Crane Dragon and Lion Dance Association

“Once we’ve figured out the setup, we try to choreograph a lion dance with a storyline and a routine,” says Zhen. Her 2018 performance had an oceanic theme where the lion pulled a stuffed fish out of a bucket and tossed it around with its mouth.

In order to be ready for competition, Zhen’s team, Leung’s White Crane, consisting of the two lion dancers and five musicians, practices three to five times a week for three to six hours at a time, “he says.

The bars differ in height by 20 cm, so training begins with setting up shorter stilts to get used to hopping the distance between the bars. “We have a muscle memory for the distance we need to jump,” says Zhen. Zhen and Hoang first cultivate this muscle memory individually and then practice the movements in coordination. Once the couple can safely move between the bars, they can start working on the stunts. In order to impress the jury, they need to prepare 10 different types of stunts, including some that they invented.

Dancers practice their routines on lower platforms before starting their performances. Courtesy of the Khuan Loke Dragon & Lion Dance Association

In a sort of motion, a “double stack” lifts Hoang Zhen by the hips onto his head as he leaps over the stilts. On other trains, the team has to perform synchronized jumps backwards – difficult because Hoang and Zhen cannot see where they are going. “I think the hardest part is finding the timing between the two jumping partners,” says Zhen.

In fact, it was a small time lag that caused Hoang and his partner to slide off the bars onto the blue safety mats during the 2018 competition. “We were just very disappointed at the moment,” says Hoang, because the slip cost the team a whole point. “But if there weren’t any mistakes, how would you learn?” Fortunately, neither was injured and while the audience cheered them on, Hoang and his partner dusted off, climbed back on the bars, and ended the show.

Despite the performance setback, Leung’s White Crane team believes their best is yet to come. Zhen and Hoang dream of a top three at the Genting World Championship whenever the next one takes place. “It’s like the Olympic Games for the lion dance,” says Hoang.

At home in California, the two share a common desire for dance to become more popular in their communities and for people to take it seriously as a competitive sport. “It’s a way for us Asians to connect with our culture,” says Hoang, who is of Vietnamese-American descent. “I feel like our job is to keep them alive.”

Preserving culture and striving for excellence are common themes across continents and generations. “It doesn’t matter where you are in the world,” says Siow, “you have to preserve the best parts of your culture. If everyone comes together to do this, I believe if it’s good today, it will be bigger tomorrow. “

The post Malaysia Has Turned Lion Dancing Right into a Gravity-Defying Excessive Sport appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

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The post Mountain Lion Noticed in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights Neighborhood – NBC Bay Space appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

A wayward mountain lion roams San Francisco’s bustling Bernal Heights neighborhood, far from the quiet green spaces it calls home.

The sightings, one from an eyewitness and another via a home security video, took place between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Tuesday. San Francisco Animal Care and Control spokeswoman Deb Campbell said puma sightings are not uncommon in the city, but research reveals many to be common house cats. Those sightings on Gaven Street and near Bernal Heights Park, however, were the real deal.

“If we hadn’t seen him in this video, we might have thought it was a large, healthy domestic cat that the eyewitness saw,” said Campbell.

I’ve just spoken to the homeowner in the Portola district who shot the mountain lion. She gave me the original video which is a little clearer than the one I posted earlier. pic.twitter.com/HBEZnwyI9A

– Andrea Nakano (@AndreaKPIX) May 19, 2021

Campbell said the mountain lion appeared large and may have been an adult. A mountain lion made it to Mission Bay a year ago, but that person was a lanky teenager.

“The lockdown is over,” joked Campbell. “Maybe he was looking for nightlife but couldn’t find one and went home.”

The home is likely to be in South Bay, particularly in the Crystal Springs area. This is likely to be a very stressful experience for the poor adventurer as mountain lions are naturally retired. This shyness can also explain why no one saw the puma cruising the city streets in daylight or at dusk.

“You’re shy, you keep to yourself,” said Campbell. “We have more mountain lion visitors than we actually experience.”

Animal Care and Control patrolled the neighborhood looking for further evidence of the furry visitor, but did not see him. Campbell says the mountain lion may have made it out of town by now, but neighbors should take sensible precautions, such as walking back and forth. B. Keeping your dogs on a leash and watching your young children. When the animal approaches, make yourself big, wave your arms, and don’t turn your back or run.

Anyone who sees the mountain lion should call the Animal Care and Control emergency number at 415-554-9400.

The post Mountain lion noticed roaming San Francisco’s Bernal Heights appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

A mountain lion was seen on the streets of San Francisco Tuesday morning, the city’s animal welfare agency reported.

The initial viewing on home surveillance video showed the lion walking past a row of houses on the 300 block of Gaven Street in the Portola neighborhood, southwest of intersection 280/101 at 3:50 a.m.

Later that morning, a person reported seeing a lion – believed to be the same – near Bernal Heights Park, on the other side of Interstate 280, about half a mile from Gaven Street.

San Francisco Animal Care and Control spokeswoman Deb Campbell said there were no plans to capture the animal.

“Either it’s under a bush waiting to leave town, or it’s already gone,” she said. “Mountain lions are pretty hard to pin down. You don’t want to annoy people. “

The post Mountain lion seen in San Francisco neighborhoods appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

After lurking around a neighborhood of San Francisco for two days and alerting some residents, a 2-year-old male mountain lion weighing 100 pounds was captured Wednesday night after retreating up a tree in Bernal Heights.

The puma couldn’t get out of the car discreetly – as it was in the middle of town, surrounded by curious neighbors and gawkers – and was shot by officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. They took him to the Oakland Zoo, where he waited for a thorough physical exam that night.

Officials from the zoo, state, and the Bay Area Puma Project, a mountain lion research group, plan to relocate the apparently healthy and unharmed animal to a friendlier, unfamiliar environment on Thursday afternoon in Santa Clara County.

Bernal Heights is a residential neighborhood south of the San Francisco Missionary District, not a semi-wild suburb where mountain lions are common sightings in California. This was first reported in the neighborhood on Tuesday and had been seen a few days earlier in Pacifica – it was moving north along the peninsula.

How he got to Bernal Heights – away from any obvious wildlife corridor – is unclear. But Zara McDonald, director and biologist for the Puma Rescue Group, said mountain lions were visiting San Francisco and other urban areas more often than many people think.

VIDEO | 00:29

Mountain Lion captured alive after roaming the San Francisco neighborhood

A mountain lion captured in the San Francisco neighborhood of Bernal Heights on Wednesday can be seen at the Oakland Zoo on Thursday.

Male mountain lions in the Bay Area generally occupy approximately 100 square miles of territory. Since their natural habitat is restricted by human development and further restricted by fire and drought, they can venture beyond their typical range.

That cougar had been in town at least once, McDonald said. The Puma project had tied him up before.

She said lions have really good internal navigational compasses, “but once they’re in town it can get tricky.”

Such dense urban areas are stressful for them, she said. And in this case, the lion penetrated so deeply into the city, and was soon surrounded by well-meaning and curious onlookers, that it became almost impossible for him to get out on his own.

After two days it became clear that he needed help.

It was at this point that the Department of Fish and Wildlife stepped on the scene, department spokesman Ken Paglia said, adding that state agents had been ready for a few days to help the San Francisco Department of Animal Control, the first responders.

Early Thursday, the state brought the lion to the Oakland Zoo, where a team of vets and technicians got ready.

“We’re here for you around the clock,” said Nik Dehejia, the zoo’s manager, citing the zoo’s 17,000-square-foot veterinary clinic, which is ready to accept animals in emergency situations.

Dr. Alex Herman, the zoo’s vice president for veterinary services, said the mountain lion was “so pretty and so beautiful and so very healthy”.

She said she and her team did a thorough exam – checked teeth, eyes, ears, abdomen, heart, lungs, bladder, and testicles – and given him some vaccinations for diseases like feline leukemia and SIV, as well as anti-worming drugs and fleas and ticks.

Almost all wild animals have some parasites, she said, but because this lion has had some stressful days, eradicating these freeloaders would make his transition back to the wild easier.

Three groups – the Oakland Zoo, the state, local animal control, and the Puma Project – have come together for these rescues to help wild creatures survive.

“They no longer need to be shipped,” she said. Instead, they can be transported and shared.

Erin Harrison, the zoo’s vice president of marketing, said not all mountain lions sent to the zoo are released back into the wild. Last summer, Redding staff received a young male cub whose paws had been badly burned in a fire. They performed several operations on the young animal. Upon recovery, he was taken to the Columbus Zoo, where he now lives.

Called “Captain Cal” by the fire department that saved him, he was transported with two other orphans who were being looked after by the zoo at the time.

In addition to fire, human interference, and drought, mountain lions and other wild animals face threats when exposed to toxic chemicals, including rodenticides, McDonald said.

She cited a state report showing a high incidence of predators in California dying after eating rodents that have ingested anticoagulant poisons.

The post Mountain lion caught in San Francisco after 2 days in metropolis appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.