Hourly Update

Big cat reported in city; search finds only kitties

Even while looking at the mountain lion, Daniel Thompson and Bob Loder said they doubted their own eyes Friday morning. They said they saw a big, agile, orangish-brown cat stretching out in a pine tree next door. Loder called 911, leading Tucson police and wildlife managers to begin searching in vain for the animal in the 100 block of west Prince Road, between Oracle Road and Stone Avenue. Between 9 and 10 a.m., eight police officers and two Arizona Game and Fish Department officers were rapping on trailers and peering into overturned trash cans in apartment complexes and trailer courts, but they never found the cat. Gerry Perry, regional supervisor with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said his agency responds to many lion complaints each year - and the majority of them turn out to be cases of mistaken identity. "I'd like to have more verification," he said of today's case, noting many lion sightings turn out to be bobcats, housecats - even dogs, and in one case last year, a treed fox. Perry said there are no washes a cougar could follow to the trailer court and apartment complex where the sighting was reported. The department's data isn't showing any spikes in mountain lion activity even at the city's outskirts, he said. Perry said the key to telling the difference between a bobcat and a mountain lion is that bobcats have shorter tails - about 4-6 inches. Mountain lions have tails that are as long as their bodies. Friday's report comes almost a year to the day lions caused an uproar in Sabino Canyon by growling at hikers there in early March. A lion hunt by Game and Fish officials aiming to kill the suspect lions was scaled back after residents and environmentalists protested. The park was re-opened to visitors at the end of the month - just 10 days before Game and Fish trapped an 80-pound female and sentenced her to life in a Scottsdale rehabilitation center. Two lions were killed in May and November of last year after approaching people on Ventana Canyon and Mount Lemmon trails. Officials at the time said the lions likely moved into that area to prey on javelina that were being fed by people. On Friday, curious residents - including several small children - watched from a close distance while police searched for the lion with their guns drawn. There was no obvious sign of a mountain lion, but several house cats were part of the scene and a stray dog wandered behind a Game and Fish officer who was winding through the rows of trailers looking for tracks. Loder said he's sure what he saw was a cougar. "I couldn't believe it," said Loder, who said he has seen mountain lions at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum. "It was the most beautiful sight I've seen since I got here," added Thompson, who has lived at the trailer court for about a year. His neighbor, Sara Nelson, 17, was playing video games at home when another neighbor called and said there was a mountain lion outside. She didn't see the lion. "It was scary, but cool," she said, adding she has seen mountain lions in the wild and in zoos, but never in her neighborhood. "That's Tucson for you," she said. It would be unusual for a lion to come so far into town, Perry said. He added that if the sighting was truly a mountain lion, the animal would likely be frightened by urban activity and climb another tree. "If there is one that shows up," Perry said, "we'll respond to it."