Report: journey of the mountain lion (cougar) captured in Mt View last month

San Francisco Chronicle/Peter Fimrite, 6/13/14. "Cougar's 9-hour detour in downtown Mountain View."  

Okay I got confused,
no need to make a big deal out of it

....  "These young animals, they are exploring, trying to find
a vacant territory, and they are constantly going through novel areas," said Wilmers, an environmental studies associate professor at UC Santa Cruz and one of the Bay Area's foremost experts on mountain lion behavior. "When they get into downtown areas, they basically made a mistake - took a wrong turn - and found themselves in the middle of urbanity and didn't know how to get out."

....  The movements of the puma as he crept through town May 6 - a drama documented by the GPS technology in the animal's collar - have given scientists a crucial picture of how the fearsome predators behave when they encounter people. The data clearly show the cougar, known to scientists as 46M, was not in town looking to feast on human flesh, according to Wilmers, whose project is studying the effect habitat fragmentation has on the big cats. Instead, Wilmers said, it shows how important travel corridors between wilderness areas are to the feline carnivores. Human-cougar encounters are most frequent when wildlife corridors are blocked by development, he said.

So life isn't fair big cougar pussycat, captured 5/7/14.
Lucky end to this journey, immediate return to the wild

....  It was not an unusual trek. Male cougars have been known to travel hundreds of miles before establishing territory and settling down. But instead of finding new wilderness, this young puma crossed Interstate 280 on May 5 and was soon traveling through the backyards of tract homes, creeping by mansions and sidling past condominium complex swimming pools in Los Altos Hills." Read article.

Related  article-  NBC Bay Area News/Chris Roberts, 6/12/14.  "Mountain View Cougar hid near street for 9 hours:  Report."  "Walkers and bikers in Mountain View almost came face to face with a big cat. The cougar that was captured in Mountain View last month stashed itself stealthily behind a hedge for nine hours, according to reports, as the world passed by without a care nearby. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the cat was caught in the urban hubbub and sought refuge from the "hustle and bustle of downtown" by creeping near apartments, sneaking around cars and the occasional person for "another 3 1/2 hours."  The big cat was tranquilized and shipped back to the wild after it was discovered."

Related original story -  San Jose Mercury News (Daily News), Jason Green, Staff, 5/7/14. "Mountain lion safely captured in Mountain View parking garage."Game wardens with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife successfully captured a 110-pound mountain lion that found itself trapped in the gated parking garage of an apartment complex on the 2000 block of California Street."  Article includes video from Channel 2, KTVU, 2:14 minutes.  

Note photographs:  Face view from Wikipedia/Cougar; captured cougar in Mt. View, 5/7/14, from NBC Bay Area above.  

Posted by Kathy Meeh