Nature

Lion on Palos Verdes?

The Daily Breeze gathers together all the reports of big cat sightings through the years on the Palos Verdes peninsula — and official assurances that nothing has ever been confirmed — and doesn't really conclude anything. Talk has resumed this summer with anecdotal evidence of another sighting.

Authorities wish they knew.

They've never been able to confirm a big wildcat in the area. Officials have not found definitive tracks or other physical evidence. No one seems to have any photographs. There certainly have been no reports of attacks.

"If there's a predator of that size, it becomes very obvious by its habits," said Rolling Hills City Manager Craig Nealis. "We don't have any evidence at all to support (the claim) that there's wildlife of that kind in the city"...

But talk to witnesses who have seen the animals, and they are emphatic about what they saw. Small head dipped low, short ears, long muscular body, and a long, thick, ropelike tail. Slinky. Catlike. But bigger. Much bigger.

The late L.A. sheriff, Sherman Block, was one of those who reported a cat, back in the 1950s.


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