Mountain Lion run-over, killed on 280 freeway, San Bruno

Yahoo News/Reuters/Emmett Berg,1/2/14, (editing by Victoria Cavaliere and Mohammad Zargham) "Motorist kills mountain lion on busy California freeway" (I-280 - San Bruno), includes a CBS/KPIX 5 television, 5:01 pm news Twitter/ Da Lin, reporter, video, 2:10 minutes.

He was just looking for a new territory

"SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A motorist struck and killed a mountain lion on a Northern California freeway during Friday's morning rush hour in what authorities described as an unusual traffic accident involving the reclusive cat. 

The driver struck the mountain lion on a stretch of freeway in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno and sped away, apparently unaware of what happened, said California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Hill. "It was exceedingly rare to see an animal of this size and an uncommon location to see it," Hill said of the busy and developed area where the cat had wandered. The solitary and elusive mountain lion lives in mountainous or heavily vegetated areas and generally tries to avoid humans, according to state wildlife experts.

A patrol unit that responded to the scene determined the animal was dead before dragging it to the side of the roadway for retrieval by wildlife managers, Hill said. "We alerted the public on this because it was an unusual location," Hill said. He added that in the dark or low light, it is possible for motorists to fail to see something in the roadway, even with headlights on."

Related -   San Francisco Chronicle/Peter Fimrite, 10/10/14. "Cougar that caused a stir in Mountain View killed on I-280."  "The large male cougar that sent Mountain View into conniptions in May when it hid for nine hours behind a small hedge on a busy street, was hit and killed by a car on Interstate 280, near Redwood City. The mountain lion, which was tranquilized and released in the hills after the earlier incident, was killed Oct. 3 as it attempted to cross the highway just north of the Edgewood Road exit, between Highways 84 and 92, said Paul Houghtaling, the field project manager for the Santa Cruz Puma Project. ....  “It’s sad when this happens to an animal,” said Houghtaling, pointing out that younger animals are almost always the ones that get hit by cars. “The younger ones have left home and are forced to live on the margins, crossing roads a lot as they look for a new home.”     

Fix Pacifica blog search: mountain lion articles.   Note the photograph is from HDW/Puma Animal wallpaper/Mountain Lion.

Posted by Kathy Meeh