Usually, a mountain lion sighting would come with a warning, but the one on Tuesday was a cause for celebration.
A mountain lion mom and her 8-month-old kitten were spotted near Bennett Valley in Sonoma County. For weeks, it was unknown whether the pair had survived the wildfires that ravaged the North Bay in October because the trail cameras tracking them had been destroyed.
The mother is known to the Audubon Canyon Ranch as P1. She gave birth to a litter of kittens in April, but the cub seen this week is the only one that survived.
“This is the first time we've seen P1 since the #NunsFire kept her dodging hotspots,” ranch officials wrote on Facebook. “Mom and her 8-month-old big baby look as sweet as ever. They were feasting on a big buck that P1 had killed a few days prior.”
Following the fires, donations helped the project’s lead researcher Quinton Martins to install a new camera that captured the precious footage.
