Sick mountain lion killed in Sonora neighborhood

A mountain lion was killed by a state Department of Fish and Wildlife warden early Sunday in a residential back yard after he determined the animal to be sick and suffering, the department and Sonora police reported Monday morning.

About 12:50 a.m. Sunday, a caller reported to police seeing a large mountain lion in the area of Highway 49 and Columbia Way. Responding officers found the cat in the yard of a home in the 100 block of Columbia Way. Fish and Wildlife was called to the scene and observed the animal about 30 minutes, police said.

The warden entered the yard and saw the mountain lion roughly 30 feet from him, sitting in grass, said Kyle Orr, information officer for Fish and Game Region 4, which includes Tuolumne County. Using a bean bag gun, the warden tried to haze the lion out of the residential area and back into nearby open space.

However, the big cat did not move when struck, Orr said, so the warden prepared to tranquilize it. “As he moved near it to use the dart gun, the lion again was not reacting at all,” Orr said. “He noticed that the lion was trembling but not moving, not turning its head toward him at all.”

Wardens are “very highly trained in these type of matters,” Orr said, and this warden “made the determination to euthanize the lion because it was sick and in distress.”

He shot the animal and removed it from the scene. A decision has not yet been made on whether to conduct a necropsy, Orr said.

Police said it is unknown if this was the same lion that’s been seen roaming the area for the past couple of months. “There’s no way to be 100 percent certain it’s the same one,” Orr said, “but based on the fact there have been sightings and mountain lions are very territorial, there’s a high probability.”

This story was originally published August 10, 2015 at 9:44 AM with the headline "Sick mountain lion killed in Sonora neighborhood."