A Point Loma Nazarene University research team captured an image of a mountain lion at Mission Trails Regional Park earlier this month, a situation officials said is under review.
Mike Mooring is the leader of a student summer research team at PLNU. They monitor 30 cameras within the park, 20 of their own and 10 that the Mission Trails Foundation runs concurrently. There are six other cameras scattered nearby by the San Diego National History Museum.
The still of a mountain lion near Suycott Valley Trail was captured on one of those cameras on Thursday, July 23.
On Tuesday, the city of San Diego, along with Mission Trails Regional Park, put out a notice warning park users and nearby residents of the encounter. Mountain lions are native to the area and generally avoid contact with humans.
However the post cautioned hikers to be aware of their surroundings, and to not wear headphones that would impair hearing.
Mission Trails Regional Park, clocking in at about 8,000 acres, is the largest regional park in California, and one of the PLNU team’s goals is to identify what large- and medium-sized mammals currently inhabit it.
Mooring said that mountain lions have been spotted near or around the park before, but this is the first sighting the team has had during their observations this year and last. Their camera capture has been the only mountain lion sighting this year.
He and the students were excited to see the mountain lion on camera he said, “both because they are an apex predator and are seldom seen in San Diego.”
Suycott Valley Trail is described by Trailworks.com as a path that is good for biking, hiking and trail running with an intermediate difficulty level for climbing.
Despite hikers’ low chances of coming across the “elusive and rare” creatures, it’s still good to know what to do. If you see a mountain lion, keep children and pets close, and make yourself look big to scare it off. Do not run the opposite way — it will likely give chase. In the event of a mountain lion attack wildlife experts encourage fighting back.
Call 911 in an emergency. All non-emergency encounters, though, can be submitted through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife Incident Reporting System.
Sightings within Mission Trails Regional Park also should be reported to park staff.
