SIERRA MADRE — Authorities on Thursday, Feb. 22, advised residents that a mountain lion was seen in the city, the second of two sightings in the span of around 12 hours, officials said.
The morning sighting prompted an alert from the city’s police department.
“The Sierra Madre Police Department has received a report of a mountain lion seen in the area of Baldwin Ave between Carter Ave and Mira Monte,” police said in a statement on Nixle on Thursday morning.
“Please proceed with caution,” the statement said. “Our officers are aware of the situation and are monitoring the animal’s activity.”
Video showed the animal walking on a roadway near parked cars at night.
By noon on Thursday, officials were continuing to monitor, but there had no reports to City Hall of additional sightings, said James Carlson, a management analyst with the city.
It was unclear if the two sightings were the same cat.
A Fish and Wildlife official was en route to the city, to assist in the city’s response and any public outreach, officials said.
At the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and so close to the Angeles National Forest, Sierra Madre is no stranger to wildlife encounters.
In September, a woman in a home just down the street from City Hall discovered a bear that had apparently found its way to some mangos before being politely removed by California Department of Fish and Wildlife and police officials, who had issued a warning for residents to avoid the area.
But the very next day, not far away, in the city’s restaurant district, a mama bear and her two cubs caused a lunchtime stir as they ambled near the patios of the restaurants along Sierra Madre Boulevard. The bears were not aggressive and continued moving as police alerted the family to change direction as onlookers moved inside.
The bear encounters came amid a robust increase in such reports, which by then had nearly tripled compared to all of 2022.
In the case of mountain lions, sightings are…
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