Mountain lion captured by wildlife officials after getting scared up tree by dog in Tustin
A Tustin neighborhood was visited by an unwanted guest on Monday, but one dog proved to be the hero of the day when it chased a large mountain lion up a tree until wildlife officials could safely capture it.
Efrain Reyes says that he was at home when the ordeal began.
"My neighbor called me and said, 'Don't get out, there's a big cat outside.' He just said a big cat. I'm like, 'What? What are you talking about?'" Reyes recalled. Come to find out that just about 20 yards from their door was a 100-pound mountain lion in the branches of a tree nearly 20 yards from their home, where Reyes, his wife and their two daughters were.
"He was just looking down like he looked nervous," Reyes said. "He looked scared."
That's because it probably was, after Reyes' neighbor's dog rousted the cat from where it was originally hiding, underneath a pickup truck in the back of his yard.
Apparently the dog let the puma know who the actual boss was, barking it up the tree where it hid for several hours as neighbors looked on anxiously. Police, firefighters and wardens with the Department of Fish and Wildlife also watched on, making sure that both residents and the animal alike were safe.
Eventually they used a tranquilizer dart to get the cat out of the tree, and once caged, they drove into the Santa Ana mountains where it was released.
No injuries were reported to anyone in the neighborhood, which is shockingly close to a metropolitan area for a cougar to wander, officials said.
