Mountain lion wandered through Sebastopol neighborhood on Sunday
Big cat spotted at midday on Jewell Avenue, Walnut Avenue, Shaun Court and First Street
Debbie Conti first learned about the mountain lion in her neighborhood yesterday when she was at the Sebastopol Farmer’s Market. Her Shaun Court neighborhood—a cul-de-sac off Jewell Avenue—has a group text thread, and her phone started buzzing off the hook with news about the mountain lion that was currently prowling about in her next-door neighbor’s backyard. She drove home and hurried into the house with her dog.
“Because of those texts, I knew to go right into the house,” Conti said. “I usually just let my dog run into the backyard when we get home, but this time we came right into the house. I closed the garage door and came upstairs [inside the house], and he was standing out on my back patio next to my grill. That’s when I started taking the video. He (or she), as you can see from the video, kind of nonchalantly walked across my patio.”
“I have a few stairs that head down to a lower level, where there’s a sliding glass door. He went down those steps outside and crouched down next to that sliding glass door and looked inside.”
“If it weren’t for this neighborhood group text thread that we have, I would not have known that this was happening, and my dog would have just been out in the backyard, and it could have been a bad situation.” (Having retired upstairs to his dog bed, her dog never knew about their feline visitor.)
The Sebastopol Police put out an alert on Facebook around midday on Sunday.
We’ve received several reports of a mountain lion sighting within city limits this morning. It was seen in backyards in the area of Jewel Avenue, Walnut Avenue, and Shaun Court. The last reported sighting was on First Street and it appeared to be headed westbound. If you live in that vicinity, it would be wise to bring any pets inside."
Officers and North Bay Animal Services are in the area keeping a lookout for it. If you see it, stay away and call the police station (707-829-4400) or North Bay (707-762-6227).
Conti said she’d never seen a mountain lion in the wild or out and about in her neighborhood before.
“I have never seen one like that before,” she said. “It’s shocking to see one—and then to see one right in your backyard, outside of your window, is very shocking.”
Conti said this recent visitation from the wild left her a little shaken. “I thought ‘How am I gonna sit outside on my patio now?’”
Other neighbors were more blasé. One neighbor, who frequently takes long walks in the neighborhood before dawn, said the recent mountain lion sighting hasn’t deterred them.
“I don’t think I’m going to be attacked by a mountain lion,” they said.
This is just one of several mountain lion sightings in the last few weeks in west county. A trio of mountain lions were filmed walking through someone’s backyard in Monte Rio two weeks ago.
Years ago when I lived in Southern California an alert went out on the news that a mountain lion was seen chasing a deer through a Granada Hills neighborhood. I wondered was that so someone could grab their camera?