Mountain Lion Reported Near Prospect Park

REDLANDS – Animal Control officers investigated a report of a mountain lion Tuesday near Prospect Park.

Two employees at Gingerbread Preschool near the park on the 1300 block of Prospect Drive, along with a parent dropping her child off at the preschool, reported hearing the animal growl and cry twice between 8 and 9 a.m. Tuesday. No mountain lion was seen, said city spokesman Carl Baker.

Animal Control Supervisor Bill Miller investigated but was unable to find the animal.

County wildlife officials and officers from the California Department of Fish and Game were notified of the report.

Confirmed mountain lion sightings have been reported periodically in the area of Prospect Park, most recently about six to eight months ago.

There have been several confirmed mountain lion sightings in Redlands since May 2001.

Of the hundreds of mountain lion sightings reported statewide annually, fewer than 3 percent are considered safety threats. According to the Department of Fish and Game, mountain lion attacks on humans are rare. There have been only 15 verified mountain lion attacks on humans in California since 1890, six of them fatal. The last documented attack occurred in June 2004 in Tulare County.

While there have been several sightings in Redlands over the past five years, there have been no reports of mountain lion attacks on humans in San Bernardino County, Baker said.

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