Everyone be cool: There was a mountain lion near Cupertino, and it growled at some kids, and that was probably very frightening, but everyone is safe now, the mountain lion — quite the specimen! — included.
The Mercury News reports that the Sheriff's Office evacuated McCLellan Ranch Preserve, the site of the sighting not far from Cupertino, as a precautionary measure. Captain Rick Sung was "very concerned" after the lion snarled at some kids and ran up a tree, but the California Department of Fish and Wildlife folks, who responded to the scene, elected not to tranquilize and relocate the animal, waiting for it to leave of its own accord. It did, stalking off sometime after night fell.
Usually, says Sung, "people will see [the mountain lion] and the mountain lion will just walk away," so this instance was a bit more troubling. In California, there have only been 14 reported mountain lion attacks since 1986.
The AP (via the Press Democrat) makes mention of the incident at a Cincinnati Zoo recently where a gorilla was shot and killed after a child fell into its enclosure. You read about this in the news. Sung responded, seemingly, to that incident, saying "Of course we're not shooting the mountain lion. Absolutely not." I mean, look at that thing.
The only thing is, it's not like this hasn't ended with a mountain lion being shot after actually attacking a kid...
