Palo Alto police are on alert after two local mountain lion sightings in residential areas.

City Naturalist Deborah Bartens said there have been more than 25 reports of cougars being spotted in Palo Alto in the past year, including open space areas. Nearly a dozen have come in the more populated parts of the city.

The last time this happened, PAPD killed the lion, who was sleeping peacefully in a tree, giving a story about how a tranquilizer “might not have worked”. I can only hope that PAPD has developed new procedures which do not involve murdering beautiful animals.