On the Scene: Cat Fight

FOR years mountain lions were thought to be the scaredy-cats of the feline family: shy, reclusive, wary of dogs, and afraid of people. No longer. Suddenly mountain lions are showing up in suburban counties all over California, jumping fences, running over rooftops, crouching in schoolyard trees, prowling through backyards, and eating Dobermans, house cats, goats, and pet pigs.

“There is terror in the foothills,” says Tim Leslie, a California state senator whose district includes most of the Sierra Nevadas. “There are so many sightings, so many cat tracks in residential areas, that people are afraid to let their children play in their own yard.”