COUGAR ALARM SENDS CLASS BACK INDOORS.

Byline: Daily News

Officials at two Saugus schools took safety precautions Monday morning after a community resident reported seeing a mountain lion on a ridge near the campuses.

Saugus High School Principal Cheryl Brown said a physical-education class that had gone outside was sent back indoors after deputies at the Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station reported getting a call about 10 a.m. from a woman who said she had spotted a cougar on the hillside.

Saugus High officials contacted their counterparts at nearby Highlands Elementary School, where a custodian then searched the campus and children were blocked during recess from playing in a grassy area near the ridge.

Sheriff's Lt. Dan Castillo said deputies on foot and in a helicopter searched the area for about an hour, but found no sign of a mountain lion.

State game wardens have confirmed numerous sightings of mountain lions in the Santa Clarita Valley in the past two years, especially in neighborhoods that border wilderness.

In February last year, an 80-pound female mountain lion loped through Valencia neighborhoods for several hours before she was shot and killed.