Two adult mountain lions were killed on Hwy. 101 last week in
separate traffic incidents. On Wednesday, an adult cougar was run
down while crossing the freeway near Dos Pueblos Canyon in Goleta;
early Thursday night, the second was hit on Hwy. 101 near Buellton.
The two big-cat fatalities represent the latest in a flurry of
increased mountain lion sightings in urban areas across the state,
a phenomenon that experts at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural
History attribute partly to a healthy cougar population approaching
carrying capacity and to dry-season hunting patterns: where the
deer go, the cats will follow.
