LAKEPORT?Melanie Hanson of Lakeport received the surprise of her life when she took her small dog, Huggles, for a walk on the beach at the Northport Trailer Resort, located on Lakeshore Boulevard, on Tuesday morning. An adult mountain lion sprang out of brush and tried to attack her dog, a miniature schnauzer
“Huggles gave a yelp and ran to me and I scooped him up in my arms before the lion could grab him. I then screamed for husband and ran for the house,” Hanson said. Her husband, Hank Hanson, came running out of their mobile home and the lion ran back into the brush.
Hanson said the lion was light brown in color, was very large (standing at least two feet tall) and had a tail as long as its body. She said the lion was as close as 10 feet from her and snarled at her. “Its fangs were huge,” she said. The episode happened at 8 a.m. and a check of the area at 10 a.m. revealed fresh lion tracks but the lion had left.
Hanson said the she called the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) and reported the incident. Local DFG game warden Lt. Loren Freeman said the DFG would treat this as a “lion sighting” and as long as the lion didn”t pose a threat no further action would be taken. Freeman said that lion was probably in the area because of deer. Hanson said that she has seen deer numerous times in her yard and on the beach.
Mountain lions sightings have recently become common throughout the residential areas in Lake County. Earlier this month a lion attacked and killed a deer in the backyard of a residence in the Clear Lake Riviera in front a landscaping crew. That lion stayed and fed on the deer”s carcass for more than two hours, ignoring the workers. A lion was also recently seen in the backyard of a residence on 20th Street in Lakeport.
The DFG says the reason the mountain lions are venturing into the residential areas is because the deer are being forced out of the surrounding forests due to the drought. The lush lawns and plants in the backyards are attracting the deer which in turn attract the mountain lions. Deer are the primary food source for mountain lions but they will also attack and kill dogs and cats.
An adult mountain lion can weigh as much as 175 pounds and they are very powerful. There has never been a recorded attack on humans in Lake County but there have been isolated attacks humans in other parts of the state.
