With mountain lions prowling neighborhoods around Los Angeles-area suburbs, alarmed residents are nervously guarding their pets and children, suddenly reminded that their homes lie not too far from the wild.
Ravi Achar and his son, Chris, 12, worried when their Pekingese, Precious, left their Granada Hills home Thursday and could not be found. But to their relief, the dog returned home later in the day."She would definitely be a nice meal for a cougar," said Ravi Achar as the 15-pound dog played beside him in the driveway, which borders O'Melveny Park in Granada Hills, where there have been several mountain lion sightings.
"Definitely, we're going to keep the dog inside," Achar said.
Chris Achar said his teachers at Robert Frost Middle School have told him and his fellow students to be aware of the recent cougar reports in the neighborhood.
"They just told us to be cautious when walking home," he said.
But as Sheri Ruhl rode her bike alongside her dog, Baby, near O'Melveny Park, she said, people always should be cautious.
Ruhl, who lives a few houses away from the park, nestled near the Santa Susana Mountains, said humans have invaded the mountain lions' domain with the building of homes near hills.
"Look around here. These are mountains. This is their territory. They were here first. Who are we to say they shouldn't be here?" said Ruhl, who has lived in the neighborhood 14 years.
Wildlife researchers said the cougars probing the city's edge could be careless young cats who haven't yet learned to stay out of human sight. Or they could be hungry and looking to make a quick, easy meal of someone's pet.
"If a lion can get a dog that's just sitting there, why chase a deer?" said Morgan Wehtje, a wildlife biologist with the state's Department of Fish and Game.
The big cats have been spotted at nine area locations this month, with six sightings Wednesday alone. The locations trace a semicircular line from Granada Hills in the north to Tarzana in the south.
After failing to find a cougar spotted in West Hills earlier, authorities were waiting for another sighting before mounting a search. Scouring neighborhoods without a specific sighting, they said, would be a waste of time.
"These animals are very, very good at what they do, which is holing up during the day and hunting at night," said Richard Felosky, manager of the West Valley animal shelter.
The reclusive cats are usually so good at avoiding human contact that biologists view the state's mountain lion population estimate - between 4,000 and 6,000 statewide - to be little better than a guess. Of the 300 to 400 mountain lion sightings reported to the Fish and Game Department each year, many turn out to be hasty glimpses of bobcats or other animals.
Still, cougars remain a dangerous predator. In July, one killed a 4-year-old boy hiking with his family in Colorado. Mountain lions killed two California women in 1994 and attacked a biker in the San Gabriel Mountains in 1995.
Biologists were unsure Thursday what brought the cats into such heavily populated areas.
"In all likelihood, it could be a youngster exploring territory and getting lost a bit," said Paul Beier, an associate professor at Northern Arizona University who has studied mountain lions in California.
Young cats leaving the protective care of their parents will travel far from home to create their own territory, sometimes as far as 50 miles, Beier said.
Wehtje said cougars also learn that backyard pets can be easy prey. A domestic dog doesn't expect that anything might try to eat it and is therefore far less wary than the deer and other animals cougars stalk in the wild.
"The dogs are sitting ducks," Wehtje said.