A mountain lion was caught on camera seemingly sizing up some kids in a neighborhood near San Francisco.
Timothy Kerrisk, who filmed the incident, told local news station KRON that he thought a dog had gotten into his Pacifica yard. Then he realised what it was ― and that it was watching children playing in the street.
“I started yelling at the kids, ‘Get inside! Get inside! Get inside!’” Kerrisk told the station.
Kerrisk uploaded his footage without the audio, which he said in the comments section was “just me yelling for the neighbour across the street to come down and grab the kids.”
After being spotted, the big cat hid under a nearby pickup truck, where it continued to watch the kids for a few seconds. It then slinked off in response to Kerrisk’s commotion:
Zara McDonald of the Bay Area Puma Project told NBC Bay Area that the group has been tracking this particular mountain lion, which is a “people observer.” She said there’s been “nothing abnormal or scary or threatening about its behavior thus far,” but that people should give the cats plenty of space if they encounter them.
Mountain lion attacks on humans are rare in California; there have only been four nonfatal attacks on children over the past 16 months, including one in the Bay Area earlier this year. The cat involved in that incident was caught and euthanised.