Mountain lion news multiplies

By RICHARD PARKS Gazette Editor

The Gazette found further evidence to substantiate reports of a mountain lion sighting near the Pine Meadows Golf Course first reported last Thursday [see "On controversial open space, a wild sighting," Dec. 13 edition of the Gazette].

.A Gazette employee who delivers paper in the area the lion was sighted reported she has seen the creature-or creatures-on sever­al occasion while making deliver­ies early in the morning. The sightings happened in the last cou­ple weeks. .

The sighting we reported on Thursday occurred the Friday pre­vious on the open space property of Gary Freitas. That property is well-known because Freitas wants the City to approve a zoning change and General Plan amend­ment to allow him to develop the land and build four new homes there.

Many have challenged the move, saying the land is a haven for wildlife that would be pushed out by such a development. Oth­ers have challenged that asser­tion, saying the mostly bare hill­side is not regularly by animals.

The owner of the Pine Mead­ow Golf Course contacted the Gazette also to report finding "a fresh hind leg of a deer near the pond at our golf course" a couple weeks ago. The owner said he searched the entire course and the surrounding streets for other parts of t,he deer but found none.

The leg appeared to be fresh­ly severed, he reported, which made him think a mountain lion might, have been the culprit; he later heard from friends who live near Nancy Boyd Park, not very far from the course, that there have been numerous sightings of, mountain lions in that area.

As for the deer, speculations say it 'was either ingested or dragged off by the predator to a far-off location. The predator must have been large, the golf course owner speculated.

"This was not a small deer," he said.

In a related piece of news, the City reported Friday that the public hearing regarding the Fre­itas property will be continued untii February, 2008.

"At the request of the appli­cant and their attorney, this item will not be heard at the Dec. 19, 2007 City Council meeting," according to a City-authored doc­ument. "The City Council will formally continue this item to Feb 6, 2008 at their next meeting of Dec. 19, 2007.”

“If you have questions on the project, please contact Corey Simon, Senior Planner, at 372-3518. Thank you.”