"...Deer proof your landscaping by avoiding plants deer like to eat...”

Really!?! I'd love to hear a surefire way of avoiding those venison-on-the-hoof.

My wife did research and bought "deer-proof" plants for our parking strip. Within days the deer had not only eaten them but also stomped on them and, for good measure, left their post-digestive calling-cards all around them. Anyone know how I can contact that lion?

reminds me of the stuff that is supposed to kill rats...I think they're called Rat Snacks

Should Berkeley residents also be on the lookout? What is the territory of mountain lions?

I think all of these hills around here are part of their range, and there was a sighting in Berkeley in January: http://elcerrito.patch.com/articles/mountain-lion-warning-issued-by-uc-police . Fish and Game says where there are deer there is a good chance there are mountain lions, too. Though attacks on people are rare, they are also supposed to be people-shy so the fact that one attacked something in an area surrounded by houses is worrisome.

There was a mountain lion seen on the Mira Vista golf course, on a fairway just north on Cutting on June 13th. A neighbor saw it, raced home for his camera, and got a not so great photo of it.

If I get a photo of a mountain lion, it's probably going to be not so great either, unless I've invested in a camera with an amazing telephoto lens and cutting edge image stabilization by then.It would be tempting to get some kind of image, though, so people don't try to argue that I just saw a really huge house kitty or a funny-looking dog.

A friend who is a hunter told me mountain lions have a range of 100 square miles.

Why not set a trap for mountain lion? Is that legal? - Howard Coates

My guess is that only California Fish and Game could do something like that.

I hope they have identified it correctly as a mountain Lion. I live on Ray ave (block from charles st) and on May 22nd early 4:00am my son heard a ruckus in front of our home. My son witness 2 dogs (a pit bull and another smaller dog) attack and bring down a deer. The deer was injured and was making this moaning sound. My son and I will outside and made noises which managed to scare the dogs away. The deer tried to get up but 2 of his legs were badly injured...and it collapsed. We contacted animal control (in Martinez because it was sunday early morning). When they got out here the deer was injured so bad that Animal Control had to put it down. Since there was no sighting of an actual Mountain lion...could it had been these 2 dogs? I will call the animal control on Tuesday to bring this up with them because i believe I know the locations of these 2 dogs.

My brother works construction. He said they recently poured a driveway at a house near Barrett & the Arlington, and overnight before it cured, a mountain lion walked through the still wet concrete and left tracks.

My first thought was... okay, I have seen wild turkey and deer around on the streets at the flats, the flatter streets of el cerrito near by Bart Del Norte so, recently no animals? I thought if there is food, they will come. The real question is, if it happened on Friday, why are we only alerted by Monday? Couldn't it be more efficient?

How sure are they that it was a wild cat that attacked the deer? Currently there is a pit bull and another dog that are based on nearby Kern St. and have been abandoned by their owners; they are roaming the neighborhood at night. A month or so they attacked a deer on Ray Ave, just one block over from Charles. They were seen and stopped by my next door neighbor but the deer was injured so badly it had to be put down. Animal Control knows were these dogs are located, but so far they have been ineffective in capturing them. And a couple of weeks ago I heard a dog barking aggressively in front of my house. I went out to investigate and fled back to my house after mid-sized brown dog started to head towards me (after the aggressive barking I wasn't going to wait and see if he was headed my way in hopes of a doggie treat). Animal Control know the address and has heard from several people now. These dogs are starving and need to be rescued before they do further harm.

Untended dogs and dogs that are not properly taken care of by their owners do far more damage than mountain lions. Doesn't get the exotic publicity however.

By the sounds of the ignorant comments left here, the mountain lions have more to fear than we do.

We choose to live right near a place called Wild Cat Canyon. Please take some personal responsibility and review the helpful links provided in the article. If you know how to avoid the animals in the first place, you probably will never have to use the tips on what to do in the event you actually see one. And if you know what to do, the less likely you will freak out.

REMEMBER, there are only about twenty valid sightings each year. I bet the mountain lions count human sightings in the thousands each year. They just stay tucked away from us because they are not typically interested in us.

The last article written about this Mountain Lion attack suggests that we "discourage" deer from entering our yards. I laughed out loud when I read that. My husband and I have done EVERYTHING to discourage deer, much like what the person in the first comment said. And the deer still come into our yard and try a nibble here and there. They also use our yard as a path to get to other areas of the neighborhood. Or they use it to take a nap. The only solution to keeping them out of our yards is to build tall fences. However the City of El Cerrito has restrictions on fence heights. I believe it is something like 4 feet high. I suggest that the city change this limitation and allow us to protect our yards from deer. In the meantime we have a mountain lion roaming in the Tilden Park/Wild Cat Canyon hills and will possilby wander into the streets. Urban sprawl has reduced their range considerably, and it woudln't surprise me if the ranges overlap these days. Don't forget, there was one that got shot in Berkeley recently? While dogs can attack deer, there is a distinct difference in how they attack and what the wounds look like. The experts were able to identify the bite and scratch marks as that of a mountain lion. They said that the injury on the young deer had deep scratch wounds that are exactly the kind a mountain lion can make, with those long sharp claws of theirs. Dogs don't attack with claws, nor do they have those kind of claws.

What was the outcome of the deer that was attacked on Charles St. (see first article above)?

I'm not aware of any further developments or outcome on this incident. The deer's injuries were deemed too severe for it be saved, so it was killed and its carcass was taken by the county Animal Services agency. As far as I know, the mountain lion was never identified or captured.

in 1955 deer - lion ratio was 750 - 1. To day l ess than 35 -1 and lions numbers are growing so you can expect attacks on people including children waiting for school buses or playing in their back yard,this is going to be a direct result of animal rights groups putting a stop to mountian lion hunting in california,how many children are missing today from a mountian lion attack? If only one that is to many walkingesp in places