Police kill mountain lion near SMC Emeritus campus
Jerry Schneir (second from the right) instructor of digital photography at the Emeritus College campus waits with his students on the street after being evacuated after a mountain lion was spotted on campus on Tuesday, May 22, 2012 in Santa Monica, Calif. The mountain lion was euthanized and the building will reopen in the afternoon. Michael Yanow
Melina Flores and Sarkis Ekmekian
May 22, 2012
Filed under News, Top Stories
An escaped mountain lion was shot by State Fish and Game officers near Santa Monica College’s Emeritus College Tuesday morning in downtown Santa Monica.
The mountain lion was spotted about 6 a.m. and cornered and shot four times at around 10 a.m. according to eyewitness Lucic Honatio.
Police resorted to using lethal force after efforts to tranquilize the mountain lion failed. Police told KTLA the mountain lion tried to jump over a fence.
“[The lion] was just a cub. They could’ve tranquilized a baby lion that weighed 90 lbs., but they killed it. It’s an outrage,” said Bill Dyer from In Defence of Animals, a national non-profit organization.
The Santa Monica Police had shut down 2nd street between Arizona Ave. and Wilshire Boulevard as a result of the incident.
The blockage prohibited some students from getting to classes at the satellite campus.
