Family find mountain lion in garage

Michelle Taylor shudders when she realizes she may have been sharing her garage with a mountain lion for the past three days. “I think it was in there since Sunday night,” the Hesperia mother of five said, with neighbors reporting they had seen a mountain lion roaming the area since Friday.

California Fish and Game, Hesperia Animal Control and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Hesperia station officials worked together to get the young cougar out of the Taylors’ garage and back into its habitat on Tuesday morning. Michelle Taylor called 911 after her husband, Jesse Taylor, rooted around the garage in search of what he thought was a raccoon or other small critter.

Instead, less than 3 feet from him, he spotted a large paw and the face of the mountain lion. Authorities responded to the home and learned the family had secured the frightened animal in the garage.

Officials worked for nearly two hours trying to coax the animal from the Taylor family’s garage, but ultimately had to tranquilize the mountain lion. The lion was a young male. The mountain lion was examined and then taken to the San Bernardino National Forest where it was released.