I hit a Mountain Lion on Santiago Canyon Hwy. Tuesday Night

Last Tuesday night, October 24th, I was driving home on Santiago Canyon Hwy . At approximately 7:55 pm about ½ mile North of Cooks Corner / Live Oak Canyon Rd. a mountain lion ran out in front of me. As there are no streetlights I never saw it until I hit it. I had no idea of what I had hit. All I saw was a mass of brown fur fly over the right side of my windshield. At first I thought I had hit a dear. A guy behind me who saw everything told me that he thought I had hit a coyote. Took me about an 1/8 of a mile to stop and by that time just about every light on my dash was blinking and emergency sounds were coming out of the speakers. System after system was damaged and some were shutting down on their own. It was also a hell of a time to realize that I did not have a flashlight in the car. I ran back and using the light on my phone I saw the lion bleeding out and with no sign of life. I called 911. About that time and for the next hour person after person stopped to ask if I needed help. One man aided me in picking up pieces of my car from the middle of the road. Two local volunteer firefighters stopped and took control of the scene. They also called Animal Control. In all about 10 people stopped to lend aid. Highway Patrol arrived, as did Animal Control, who happened to say that he thought that this was the first mountain lion strike in this area in about two decades. He told me that the lion was a female about two years old.

I was pretty shook up. My wife came and helped me clean out my car and give me a ride home. By the time we got there my adrenaline was wearing off and I was feeling pretty shaky. Certainly, the many who stopped and offered help is what allowed me to get through this experience as well as I did. I huge thank-you to my wife, Cindy Zager, to the two volunteer firefighters, the CA Highway Patrolman, the Animal Control Officer and to the many local citizens who cared enough to stop on a very dark highway and offer to be of help. As much as I do not want mountain lions in my neck of the woods I also do not want to be the one to dispatch them. As you can see from the photo she was a beautiful animal.