Morgan Hill
– Burnett Elementary School students were kept in their
classrooms for 30 minutes Thursday morning after a mountain lion
was seen nearby.
Morgan Hill – Burnett Elementary School students were kept in their classrooms for 30 minutes Thursday morning after a mountain lion was seen nearby.
But as soon as sheriff’s deputies arrived with tranquilizer guns, the animal took off toward Fisher Creek, heading away from the school, located northwest of the city.
Police were notified shortly after 8am that a mountain lion was in a tree at 85 Madrone Ave., about a half mile north of the school.
Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Morgan Hill Police officers arrived and found that the cat had moved to a tree at 10971 Dougherty, closer to the school.
Deputies tried to get a clear shot to tranquilize the animal, but it ran off.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Al Holborn, who was in charge of the operation, saw the mountain lion as it left.
“It was just loping along toward the creek,” Holborn said.
Deputies told school authorities shortly after 9:30am there was no danger.
Deputy Daniel Almquist said he and other deputies searched the bushes, but except for rabbits scurrying from the creek, there was no sign of the lion.
At Burnett School, lead teacher Teresa Sermersheim said the school was not on “lock down.”
“That is when we lock the doors, pull the shades and have the children get under their desks,” Sermersheim said. “The danger this morning did not warrant that level.”
She said the children were told what was happening.
“We let the teachers tell them,” she said. “We used the analogy of seat belts – we just want to be safe; we don’t expect an accident and this morning we didn’t expect the mountain lion to appear at school.”
Mountain lion sightings in the east and west hills surrounding Morgan Hill are increasingly common as civilization extends further into the animals’ natural habitat. In March 2004 three older cubs were found in a residential backyard next to Shadow Mountain School at Llagas and Hale avenues.
One escaped and was killed by a passing car; a second one was tranquilized and later released. The third was shot and killed by police after tranquilizer darts failed to work and the animal tried to get into a house.
Mountain lions also have been sighted at the Gavilan College campus south of Gilroy and in the hills east of Morgan Hill.
