Mountain lion caught on camera in El Dorado County weeks after deadly attack: "A terrifying reminder"
PLACERVILLE - A mountain lion was caught on camera walking across someone's lawn in El Dorado County.
This happened just weeks after a deadly mountain lion attack in Georgetown that killed 21-year-old Taylen Robert Claude Brooks and injured his brother, 18-year-old Wyatt Jay Charles Brooks.
"This is just a terrifying reminder that even here, where there [are] people and pets everywhere, they're still coming through and they're very comfortable," Tanya Harlow, a Placerville resident, said.
Harlow said she was sitting on her couch Thursday night talking to her husband when she heard a strange noise.
"About 45 seconds later, our motion light came on and we both looked out the window and the mountain lion was coming from this direction over here and walked across our lawn and down this path," Harlow said, showing us the scene.
The video shows the mountain lion walking across Harlow's lawn at about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
She lives less than half a mile from El Dorado High School and has pets and kids of her own, so she said seeing a mountain lion this close to her home was terrifying.
"When you are not living in the rural areas and you're in a neighborhood that's really heavily populated, you tend to let your guard down," Harlow said.
The sighting left neighbors wondering: are more mountain lions coming to El Dorado County?
Peter Tira with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the number of mountain lions in the area hasn't changed but technology has, so more people are catching them on camera.
"A mountain lion's favorite food, is deer right? So wherever you see deer, you can bet there's mountain lions around," Tira said.
He said that is not meant to scare you, but there are things you can do to help protect yourself.
"Don't leave food out for the deer. Make sure you're not providing landscaping that deer are enjoying, that they're hanging around," Tira said.
After the deadly mountain lion attack in Georgetown, Harlow said she is more aware of her surroundings now more than ever.
"My boys do the same thing that they were doing. They hunt and they fish and they camp and it just really affected us pretty significantly because that's something they could have been doing," Harlow said.
If you see a mountain lion, you are encouraged to report it.
