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A mountain lion was found dead in Oceanside after being hit by a car on Friday night around 7:25 p.m., just days after one was seen prowling the streets of downtown Oceanside, animal officials said.
It is not yet confirmed if the deceased mountain lion is the same one that was seen peering through the windows of a movie theater and trotting through Oceanside City Hall’s parking garage earlier in the week.
The single-vehicle collision killed the mountain lion near North River Road and Wilshire in Oceanside. The driver was not injured, Oceanside police said. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife was contacted and arrived to examine the deceased animal.
The animal was a young male lion, likely a disperser, which is a young lion starting to become independent and in search of an area far from their home to establish as their own, according to the San Diego Humane Society.
At this time of year, it’s common for young mountain lions to disperse and seek their own territory, so it’s difficult to say if this was the same lion that had been reported in the area earlier in the week, the Humane Society adds.
“It’s entirely possible [that this is the same mountain lion],” Tim Daly with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said. Again, the department doesn’t know for sure.
“If the original one resurfaces someplace in the downtown area of Oceanside [we] will respond and we continue to monitor,” Daly told NBC 7.
If you see mountain lions, do NOT approach or disturb them, OPD and the Department of Fish & Wildlife says. Avoid the mountain lion and report the sighting to the OPD immediately by calling 760-435-4911.