Goat Is Bait for Cougars in San Juan Capistrano

Game wardens planned to set a trap containing a live goat Wednesday night in hopes of luring one of the two mountain lions spotted near a San Juan Capistrano equestrian center.

Department of Fish and Game officials warned parents not to leave children unattended in the area where a mountain lion was shot and wounded last week. A second was seen nearby a few days later.

Game warden Spencer Gilbert said he witnessed one of the cats stalking a child.

“The mountain lion was intently looking on a small child, in the grass with its tail moving back and forth, in one occurrence,” Gilbert said.

In another instance, one of the mountain lions crept up behind officers tracking it, he said.

“He was looking at us, we had our flashlights right on him,” Gilbert said. “If this would have been a normal cat, it would have gone away as soon as you would have lit him up with a flashlight, but it just sat there looking at us.”

The trap will contain a live goat enclosed in a second, smaller cage, officials said.