COUGAR SPOTTED AT POWER PLANT.Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer GLENDALE - A mountain lion mountain lion: see puma. has been shown on surveillance tape entering the Grayson Power Plant on several occasions, likely drawn to its colony of feral cats “Stray cat” redirects here. For the band, see Stray Cats. Feral cats are the descendants of domesticated cats that were abandoned by their owners or that strayed into wild areas from their homes. as prey, city officials said. The mountain lion has been entering the plant property by jumping over the 6-foot-tall fence, burrowing under the fence or pushing through a gap in the fence, rattling the approximately 200 plant employees and the park rangers A park ranger is a person charged with protecting and preserving protected parklands, forests (then called a forest ranger), wilderness areas, as well as other natural resources and protected cultural resources. . ``Whether or not it is being drawn to the area by feral cats, the fact that they are there as a food source is probably creating an interest for the mountain lion,'' said Russ Hauck, park ranger supervisor. Another theory is that the mountain lion is a juvenile recently kicked out of its mother's territory and seeking its own home range at the power plant, where there's no large-predator competition, Hauck said. The plant is located at 634 Bekins Way, near the Los Angeles River The Los Angeles River is an intermittent river flowing through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the west end of the San Fernando Valley, 51 miles (82 km) southeast to its mouth in Long Beach. and the interchange of the Ventura and Golden State freeways The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. . City officials have responded by increasing the height of the fence and pouring concrete at the bottom of the fence to prevent digging. They have also installed motion-activated lighting for employee safety. They have asked the Department of Fish and Game staff to trap the mountain lion, but Hauck said department officials have expressed no interest in intervening since the mountain lion has not yet posed a serious threat. Witnesses have reported sightings
Sightings was a paranormal-themed television program that was first broadcast as an hour special entitled "UFO Report: Sightings" in October 1991. since early in the year, and three - all between 6 and 9 p.m. - have recently been videotaped: one on Monday and two last week on Tuesday and Thursday. Officials are concerned about the safety of people in the area who may be in the animal's path. ``When a mountain lion comes out of an open-space area and goes into the neighborhood, we encourage it back into open space,'' Hauck said. ``Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large public park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is situated in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park covers 4,210 acres (17 km²) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. is the nearest open space, and between the plant and the park there is DreamWorks, ABC-7, a bicycle path bicycle path n → camino para ciclistas bicycle path n, bicycle track n → piste f cyclable bicycle path n and a soccer field, so it's of tremendous concern.'' Animal advocate Maral Tejirian, who has helped feed about 25 feral cats at the plant, doubts the cats are drawing the mountain lion to the plant. None of the cats in the colony is missing, and city officials are using the mountain lion as an excuse to remove the feral cats, she said. ``A mountain lion is going to get attracted to that area for the skunks, possums and raccoons, just the same as for the cats,'' Tejirian said. ``It's a wildlife corridor, and you're always going to have a food source for a mountain lion to eat. Basically, they're scapegoating the cats.'' City officials said in December that they plan to work with local animal- rights activists to humanely remove dozens of feral cats that have overrun 1. overrun - A frequent consequence of data arriving faster than it can be consumed, especially in serial line communications. For example, at 9600 baud there is almost exactly one character per millisecond, so if a silo can hold only two characters and the machine takes the service yard. Food set out for the cats has increased the numbers of skunks, raccoons and possums in the area, and the cats are causing safety issues for the employees by getting into the equipment, city officials said. Naush Boghossian, (818) 546-3306 naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com |
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