COUGAR CHASES MAN, PET HOME; ANIMALS START COMING CLOSER.

Byline: Stacy Brown Daily News Staff Writer

Two days after a 300-pound black bear roamed through Valencia and Newhall, a mountain lion chased a Castaic man and his dog to his doorstep - evidence, one expert says, that the Santa Clarita Valley's population growth has infringed on the animal kingdom.

Mike Nordenstrom was walking his dog near Paradise Ranch Mobile Home Park on Thursday night when he spotted a mountain lion, which he described as having a large build and being about six feet long.

The puma chased Nordenstrom and the dog across the mobile home park, all the way to the frightened man's front door. Nordenstrom and his pet dashed inside and slammed the door before the animal could catch them.

``Mike was fortunate because he had a head start on the lion,'' his wife, Danya Nordenstrom, said Friday. ``We peeped out the window and he ran away.''

Sheriff's deputies searched the area for more than 30 minutes after the 11:30 p.m. sighting, but the lion disappeared through the brush that surrounds the mobile-home park, which backs up against steep hills.

``It's a lot of brush up there and our deputies aren't expected to go blindly into the brush looking for a mountain lion,'' said Sgt. Bob Galarneau.

The sighting was the second wild animal spotted in the Santa Clarita Valley in less than two days. On Wednesday, a large black bear was filmed by television news crews climbing a tree and jumping a fence on Orchard Village Road in Newhall.

The bear escaped capture as many residents cowered inside their homes.

State Department of Fish and Game spokesman Pat Moore said population increases of both people and animals in the Santa Clarita Valley has caused a man vs. beast battle over territory that once belonged solely to the wild animals.

Sheriff's Deputy Wes Sutton said he has been called to the Castaic area, near Templin Highway, three times in the past month because of mountain lion sightings.

``Human growth has impacted animals since the Europeans settled here centuries ago,'' Moore said. ``Up until about 1963, it was open season on mountain lions because they used to attack people quite often.''

Moore said the attacks greatly decreased as the lions were forced deeper into the wilderness.

``But in the 1970s the population of mountain lions grew by leaps and bounds and of course now there are more people living in (Santa Clarita) so lions, bears and other animals find it tough to stay away from people,'' Moore said.

``The territorial needs of the lion has also grown and while we don't know exactly how many bears there are, we will probably begin to see more of them,'' Moore said.

In a close encounter with a mountain lion, the best thing to do is to make yourself appear as large and intimidating as possible: raise both arms, stand on your toes and make noise, experts say. Do not turn your back.

The key to deterring black bears is to make sure there's no food to attract them, experts say.

``The thing to do is to tightly seal your garbage cans and don't leave food outside for any reason because they can smell it for more than five miles,'' Moore said.

If one comes close, stand still and avoid eye contract. You can't outrun them: They can travel up to 35 mph, experts say.