Mountain lion cub strolls through El Dorado County business, gives locals a scare

At a glance from several feet away, it may have looked like a house cat.

Instead, it was a mountain lion roaming the hall of an El Dorado County business, as seen in photos shared to Twitter on Tuesday by sheriff’s Deputy Evan Vaughan.

Fish and Wildlife officials and the Sheriff’s Office were able to safely remove the cub from the property without incident, according to Vaughan.

Mountain lions, or cougars, pose a danger to humans and their pets. Cougar cubs, or kittens, between 3 and 6 months old can hunt on their own, according to the Mountain Lion Foundation.

It’s not the type of scare folks are accustomed to this time of year, Vaughan said.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is launching a statewide effort to research and estimate the population count of mountain lions; the previous count was taken decades ago.

Hunting cougars has been outlawed in California since 1990.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 2:01 PM with the headline "Mountain lion cub strolls through El Dorado County business, gives locals a scare."