A mountain lion was spotted in the back yard of a Vista home early Saturday, but ran off before state wildlife officers arrived.
A resident alerted the sheriff’s department to the cougar in the 300 block of West Connecticut Avenue, near Avenue de Benito Juarez, shortly before 2:30 a.m., according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
Arriving deputies saw the mountain lion in a tree and summoned wardens from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, but the big cat escaped soon after, a sheriff’s dispatcher said.
Deputies and game wardens searched for the mountain lion, but it had disappeared, sheriff’s Lt. Scott Black said.
Black warned that anyone who spots the mountain lion should not attempt to detain or subdue it, and asked that sightings be promptly called in to the sheriff’s department at (858) 565-5200 or Fish and Wildlife dispatchers at (858) 467-4201.
— City News Service