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In Monrovia, California, Mountain Lion Trapped in Somebody's Backyard
Aired May 24, 2002 - 10:40 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to break away from this, but we want to go back live to Monrovia, California, where a mountain lion is trapped in somebody's backyard. You can see -- you can't see it anymore. Oh yes, you can. See its head poking out from that hole in the fence.
We have Rod Berensen, who is the man in the copper with the camera up there from KTTV.
Rod, what can you tell us about what is going on now?
ROD BERENSEN, KTTV REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Good morning, Leon.
There you see an adult California mountain lion, and the cat has been tranquilized. The cat has poked its head in and out of that hole. The majority of the cat is underneath that bush that you see to the right.
As we pull out and pan to the right a little bit, you'll see a couple of guys from the California Department of Fish and Game. They're the ones responsible for anesthetizing the cat. And what they'll do is go ahead and shoot a couple of tranquilizer darts into the fanny of that big cat, and then make sure that -- absolutely certain that that cat is asleep and not a threat to them, and then, what they'll do is go ahead an pull the cat out of there and relocate it, probably anywhere from 20-50 miles from this location, get it away from the residential area.
You saw that Monrovia police officer, he has a shotgun there, and that is just purely as a last-resort method. That cat is almost asleep.
COSTELLO: Is the cat sick?
BERENSEN: Well, we don't know, and that's one of the things that Fish and Game will have to determine. Is this cat sick? Is this the reason the cat came down? Typically what happens in Southern California, this house is only about maybe one city block from some wild open area. And typically what happens, these cats will come down because there are easy sources of food and water in these backyards or if the animal is sick. Either way, the Department of Fish and Game will check the cat out, make sure it's in good health. If it's not, they will rehabilitate the cat before they do relocate it away from populated areas.
COSTELLO: Was anyone ever in any danger from this cat?
BERENSEN: I don't know about this particular cat, but we have had people that have been threatened by mountain lions. I'm aware of about 12, 14 years ago, there was a child that was attacked by a mountain lion in one of the suburban areas here in Los Angeles. There you can see a couple of the people in the backyard just trying to get an eyeball on the cat, and we should see shortly the Fish and Game moving in, and pulling the cat out of there, put in the cage, and off it goes.
COSTELLO: I can't even imagine how much this cat weighs. How are they going to move it?
BERENSEN: Well, they got a bunch of big, strong guys that are going to pull out of there. I understand these cats can go up somewhere around 200 pounds if it's healthy cat and it's had plenty to eat. They're a very, very large animal. Not unusual, though, this is something that we see fairly routinely here in Southern California.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Rod, Leon here, let me ask you something, do you know how the cat discovered. Did the owner just happen to go outside and check the laundry or something, or walk out to car and happen to see it, or what?
BERENSEN: Boy, you talk about a rude awakening, Leon. We don't know for sure, but generally, what happen is the household pets start going completely berserk. If there is a dog in the neighborhood, that dog is going nuts. If there's a dog in that backyard, it will bark at that cat from a safe distance, and preferably behind a door. And ultimately, what happens is somebody goes and sees what the animals are barking about, and that's when they take a look out there, and they probably spotted the cat and made a quick retreat to safety.
HARRIS: I would imagine pets would start disappearing if there is a cat like that prowling the neighborhood.
BERENSEN: Oh, yes, you don't want to be walking up on one of these California mountain lions. They're a very, very large cat, very large predator.
HARRIS: You say...
BERENSEN: Considering we have so many incidents like this, we rarely, rarely have people being attacked by the cat.
HARRIS: That's interesting. Well, Rob, thanks, man.
We are going to keep an eye on this. We'll try to check back with you later on and see how this situation progresses.
BERENSEN: All right guys, that gives a whole new meaning to here kitty, kitty, kitty.
HARRIS: You got that right.
BERENSEN: Thank you very much, Rod Berensen from KTTV.
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