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A dead mountain lion was found in Portola Valley near Portola Road and Willowbrook Drive earlier this week on Monday, Jan. 13. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, it is currently investigating the death and suspect the lion was struck by a vehicle.
By the time CDFW responded to the report, the body was no longer there.
Town residents have been discussing the incident on PVForum, Portola Valley’s private social media platform, emphasizing issues around speeding vehicles and lack of safety for nearby wildlife.
Portola Valley resident Roger Novesky said he saw the mountain lion’s body in the middle of the road on his way to Town Center with his dog early in the morning. To prevent the lion from getting run over, he moved its body onto the shoulder of Portola Road. Novesky said he suspects it had just been injured moments before he arrived, judging by the warmth of its body, although there were no visible wounds or blood.
“There is a lot of speeding, especially on Portola Road,” he said. “When I go 35 mph, which is the speed limit, I’ve got cars lined up behind me hurrying to get to work, so it doesn’t surprise me that this puma was hit.”
With suspicions of the lion getting hit by a vehicle, Novesky is disappointed that the driver did not stop after the incident. “These are really unique animals,” he said.
The approximate location where the mountain lion was found.
Other residents are speculating whether the lion was temporarily knocked out, recovered and returned back into the wilderness or if a driver picked up its body for their own personal interest, according to Novesky.
In previous weeks, security camera footage from the neighborhood captured a resident mountain lion with three cubs. Community members are concerned that the reported lion was the mother, leaving her orphaned young to survive on their own.
According to witnesses, the mountain lion was not collared, said Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Supervisor Chris Barresi.
CDFW wildlife biologists and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District biologists are setting “out game cameras in the area to see if the cubs can potentially be located,” said CDFW Information Officer Krysten Kellum.
CDFW asks residents in the area to report any sightings of mountain lion cubs at apps.wildlife.ca.gov/wir or by calling CDFW Region 3 headquarters at 707-428-2002 and refer to wildlife biologist Mairan Smith with a clear location and time of the sighting.
To support the search for the cubs, CDFW requests residents keep their pets indoors and not leave food out.
There is an ongoing petition by The Nature Conservancy Flagship Preserves Director Jason Pelletier, directed at ending vehicle-wildlife collisions on Interstate Highway 280 and other freeways.
The petition, which has over 900 signatures as of Jan. 17, cites the death of a female mountain lion on Highway 280 in Burlingame in November 2023. The dead lion orphaned two cubs, Maple and Willow, who were rescued by the CDFW and Oakland Zoo.
The petition calls for Caltrans and Peninsula politicians to address the issues around wildlife fatalities on highways and invest in solutions to prevent harm to the people and animals in the area.
