Tracks!

Found a set of these tracks on my patio today. They are about 3-5/8" across. There was also a smaller set of tracks with them. No more late night martinis on the patio.

You're safe as long as you set out an open can of tuna.

Can you get tuna in five-gallon cans?

I went out and took a closer look at the tracks. They are difficult to see because they are a couple of months old. The ground hasn't been wet for that period of time.

There were two big cats and one small one. The lone cat walked along next to a four-foot-wide, one-step-up deck. Which put him about five feet from the glass door and full-height windows in the master bedroom.

I used to leave those windows open at night in the summer, but am reconsidering that. I doubt that a plastic screen would keep out a hundred-pound lion if he decided to pop in for a snack.

Probably the wildlife of California is just as stressed by the lack of rain as the people. She may have been looking for a drink, rather than a snack.

I wouldn't recommend setting out a water dish though.

There would have been no reason to come to the house for a drink at that particular time. The tracks were muddy prints, indicating they were left when the ground was wet. Lions do come into populated areas around here. I have seen two on my property in the daytime. Sometimes they show up in town. Not long ago one was found sleeping in the shade under a pickup truck outside a bar.

The most interesting thing is that there appears to have been two large cats and one small one. It's possible that the large cats came separately, but close in time. The sets of tracks entered the patio right together, as if the cats were walking side by side. Again, possibly a coincidence. Mountain lions are solitary creatures and avoid other cats except during mating. The presence of a very young cat indicates it wasn't mating season.

Juvenile with his mother?

That's a possibility. I think it's safe to assume that the one with the kitten was a female. The young may stay with the mother for a year or two. I don't know how big they are at two years, and both of these cats were big. I guess if the young was a male, it could have been as big as the mother.

_Howard wrote:

Not long ago one was found sleeping in the shade under a pickup truck outside a bar.

Brings this photo to mind.

Holy crap! Glad I'm not on that flight. I wonder what they do when it's time to leave.

This guy's not quite as big as those, but I surely don't want to walk outside and find a couple of them on the patio.

Couldn't be a coyote could it?

Much too big for a coyote. The only animals around here with tacks this big are lions and bears. And bears have five toes.

Lions, and tigers, and bears. Oh my!

Thank Allah, the only tiger around here is in the zoo.
The bears and lions are enough to have roaming around freely.

Maybe you should stay in your car for now.

Maybe we could get one of those Chinese zoo people-holders and put the bed in it.

Seems the weather is causing problems all over.
http://time.com/3821057/mountain-lion-hiding-los-angeles-home/

While the recent drought has probably caused some wildlife excursions into populated areas, it has always been a common occurrence. I can recall instances of lions coming into towns around here when I was just a wee shite. The lions were here long before people were, and we continue to encroach on their domain.