QUOTE
Bear, black lion - impossible? Not necessarily
Tom Stienstra - (08-08) 21:26 PDT
A series of unusual accounts last week show that black panthers and bears are becoming more legend than mystery in the Bay Area.
Lynn Reed, a ranch owner, avid hunter and wildlife expert, said he and his wife watched what appeared to be a black mountain lion for more than 10 minutes in the foothills near Dublin in Alameda County. The next day, another one was seen by an engineer in the nearby San Ramon hills.
Reed's 10-minute sighting is the longest, eye-witness account of a black mountain lion reported by a wildlife expert in 20 years. It is similar to a Fish and Game warden's description from the 1980s near Sunol Regional Wilderness.
The pelt of a black mountain lion has never been recovered by officials, according to the Department of Fish and Game, and they say a black panther does not exist in California. One theory is that a genetic mutant is out there. Another is that the owner of exotic wildlife, such as a black jaguar, let an animal loose.
"He was black as can be with a head the size of a cantaloupe," Reed said. "We watched it for 10 minutes. I said to my wife, 'Look how its tail goes back and curls up, look how its shoulders move.' It was 3 feet long, the tail 2 1/2 feet, maybe 60, 75 pounds."
A similar animal was seen last week in the nearby San Ramon hills by a surveyor, Art Whitten. "I was setting up an aerial panel and I felt something watching me," Whitten said. "I turned and he was sitting in a ravine, 100 feet away. Of course, at first I was nervous, but he showed no interest in me. I've seen a lot of mountain lions, and I'd estimate it as the average size of a mountain lion."
During the encounter, he twice phoned his supervisor, Barry Williams, to tell him what was happening. "He has seen lions before and I know he isn't off his rocker," Williams said.
Another thrilling wildlife episode - with a bear - was also reported this past week:
On the Peninsula's Skyline Ridge, field scout Cat Webb said she walked nearly headlong into a bear. This is likely the same bear that was seen by hikers in the same vicinity last summer, one at Rancho San Antonio, the other at the western edge (near Skyline) of Sanborn-Skyline County Park.
In a story from this spring, a bear was sighted multiple times in Petaluma near East Washington Street, the city's main drag, and Maria Drive.
These latest bear sightings make 12 likely accounts reported in the past 10 years in the greater Bay Area. The idea that the Bay Area still has enough wild places for bears to live, along with mountain lions - maybe even a black one - is astonishing. It shows one of the benefits of creating parks in the foothills and protecting greenbelt.
Here are the details:
Lynn Reed, black mountain lion: "I have a ranch, 120 acres. I've seen mountain lions come through. This time I was going down 580, heading toward Pleasanton, about 6:15 p.m., came over the Dublin Grade (near Foothill), when we saw it, about 800 yards off. I slowed down, and I said to my wife, 'Look at that! It's a cougar or a panther.' We took the next exit - I gave up our dinner reservations - and I circled back to get closer. We got maybe 300 yards away.
"We watched it for 10 minutes; the way he snuck through, it looked like he was hunting, looking for something. We watched him about 10 minutes. Very exciting. Incredible, really. I'm a hunter raised in Utah with a pretty good eye for wildlife. I kept staring to make sure I knew what I was looking at."
Cat Webb, Skyline bear: "I saw a bear yesterday. I was north of Skyline, hiking on the east side of the ridge. He was down the hill from me in the brush. It scared the crap out of me! I was alone, so I threw a branch his way and I heard him running. I ran too, happy it was in the opposite direction. I had never heard of bears up in the Santa Cruz Mountains before so I thought maybe I was crazy or it was a dark brown/black mountain lion? Hah. Anyway, I just looked it up on the Internet and found your article about sightings of bears up there. So now I know I'm not crazy."
Recent bear sightings
2009: Hiker near Skyline (Highway 35) in Santa Cruz Mountains shocked to see bear down-slope, which quickly scampered away into cover.
-- Multiple reports of a 200-pound bear in Petaluma near East Washington Street and Maria Drive.
2008: Two bear sightings reported by hikers on the south Peninsula, one at Rancho San Antonio, another at western edge of Sanborn-Skyline County Park.
2005: After a six-year disappearing act, the "Swanton Road Bear" is seen again in northern Santa Cruz County.
2003: A bear is spotted near the Point Reyes Hostel, the first one verified at Point Reyes National Seashore in 100 years.
-- A second bear in Marin is seen near Bon Tempe Reservoir near Fairfax. Over the course of two months, it is reported several times in the Mount Tamalpais watershed.
For accounts of all Bay Area bear sightings since 1960, go to sfgate.com and search for "Bear tales: Ursine mysteries," published Aug. 10, 2008.
- Tom Stienstra
E-mail Tom Stienstra at tstienstra@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page B - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Tom Stienstra - (08-08) 21:26 PDT
A series of unusual accounts last week show that black panthers and bears are becoming more legend than mystery in the Bay Area.
Lynn Reed, a ranch owner, avid hunter and wildlife expert, said he and his wife watched what appeared to be a black mountain lion for more than 10 minutes in the foothills near Dublin in Alameda County. The next day, another one was seen by an engineer in the nearby San Ramon hills.
Reed's 10-minute sighting is the longest, eye-witness account of a black mountain lion reported by a wildlife expert in 20 years. It is similar to a Fish and Game warden's description from the 1980s near Sunol Regional Wilderness.
The pelt of a black mountain lion has never been recovered by officials, according to the Department of Fish and Game, and they say a black panther does not exist in California. One theory is that a genetic mutant is out there. Another is that the owner of exotic wildlife, such as a black jaguar, let an animal loose.
"He was black as can be with a head the size of a cantaloupe," Reed said. "We watched it for 10 minutes. I said to my wife, 'Look how its tail goes back and curls up, look how its shoulders move.' It was 3 feet long, the tail 2 1/2 feet, maybe 60, 75 pounds."
A similar animal was seen last week in the nearby San Ramon hills by a surveyor, Art Whitten. "I was setting up an aerial panel and I felt something watching me," Whitten said. "I turned and he was sitting in a ravine, 100 feet away. Of course, at first I was nervous, but he showed no interest in me. I've seen a lot of mountain lions, and I'd estimate it as the average size of a mountain lion."
During the encounter, he twice phoned his supervisor, Barry Williams, to tell him what was happening. "He has seen lions before and I know he isn't off his rocker," Williams said.
Another thrilling wildlife episode - with a bear - was also reported this past week:
On the Peninsula's Skyline Ridge, field scout Cat Webb said she walked nearly headlong into a bear. This is likely the same bear that was seen by hikers in the same vicinity last summer, one at Rancho San Antonio, the other at the western edge (near Skyline) of Sanborn-Skyline County Park.
In a story from this spring, a bear was sighted multiple times in Petaluma near East Washington Street, the city's main drag, and Maria Drive.
These latest bear sightings make 12 likely accounts reported in the past 10 years in the greater Bay Area. The idea that the Bay Area still has enough wild places for bears to live, along with mountain lions - maybe even a black one - is astonishing. It shows one of the benefits of creating parks in the foothills and protecting greenbelt.
Here are the details:
Lynn Reed, black mountain lion: "I have a ranch, 120 acres. I've seen mountain lions come through. This time I was going down 580, heading toward Pleasanton, about 6:15 p.m., came over the Dublin Grade (near Foothill), when we saw it, about 800 yards off. I slowed down, and I said to my wife, 'Look at that! It's a cougar or a panther.' We took the next exit - I gave up our dinner reservations - and I circled back to get closer. We got maybe 300 yards away.
"We watched it for 10 minutes; the way he snuck through, it looked like he was hunting, looking for something. We watched him about 10 minutes. Very exciting. Incredible, really. I'm a hunter raised in Utah with a pretty good eye for wildlife. I kept staring to make sure I knew what I was looking at."
Cat Webb, Skyline bear: "I saw a bear yesterday. I was north of Skyline, hiking on the east side of the ridge. He was down the hill from me in the brush. It scared the crap out of me! I was alone, so I threw a branch his way and I heard him running. I ran too, happy it was in the opposite direction. I had never heard of bears up in the Santa Cruz Mountains before so I thought maybe I was crazy or it was a dark brown/black mountain lion? Hah. Anyway, I just looked it up on the Internet and found your article about sightings of bears up there. So now I know I'm not crazy."
Recent bear sightings
2009: Hiker near Skyline (Highway 35) in Santa Cruz Mountains shocked to see bear down-slope, which quickly scampered away into cover.
-- Multiple reports of a 200-pound bear in Petaluma near East Washington Street and Maria Drive.
2008: Two bear sightings reported by hikers on the south Peninsula, one at Rancho San Antonio, another at western edge of Sanborn-Skyline County Park.
2005: After a six-year disappearing act, the "Swanton Road Bear" is seen again in northern Santa Cruz County.
2003: A bear is spotted near the Point Reyes Hostel, the first one verified at Point Reyes National Seashore in 100 years.
-- A second bear in Marin is seen near Bon Tempe Reservoir near Fairfax. Over the course of two months, it is reported several times in the Mount Tamalpais watershed.
For accounts of all Bay Area bear sightings since 1960, go to sfgate.com and search for "Bear tales: Ursine mysteries," published Aug. 10, 2008.
- Tom Stienstra
E-mail Tom Stienstra at tstienstra@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page B - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle