Sighting: Mountain Lion In Glover-Archbold Park Near Fannie Mae HQ

WASHINGTON -- A mountain lion was allegedly sighted last week in the northern end of Glover-Archbold Park, according to a posting on Cleveland Park's online message board.

The post was apparently written by a resident of McLean Gardens, a 43-acre residential neighborhood located between the park and Wisconsin Avenue, adjacent to the headquarters of mortgage giant Fannie Mae:

I just wanted to report that last week there was a mountain lion sighting in McLean Gardens on the edge of Glover Park. I know it sounds crazy but two people were witness to the cat. I seems to be a young one, not fully grown. He was sighted at around 1:00 pm on October 17th. This seems to coincide with the two sightings reported in the news in August this year, one in [Loudoun] County and the other in DC in the District Heights area.

Glover-Archbold Park is part of a slender north-south greenbelt that stretches from the Potomac River near Georgetown to Van Ness Street NW. Other parks connect it to Rock Creek Park, which has had its fair share of coyote sightings in recent years.

The Glover-Archbold sighting comes on the heels of other purported run-ins with D.C. wildlife. Earlier this week, a man was charged with driving under the influence after he crashed his car into the C&O Canal. The driver blamed his predicament on a bear sighting, which caused him to swerve off Canal Road around 9 p.m. on Monday. The bear was nowhere to be found and the man was arrested.

Last year, footage of a bear was captured by security camera of an apartment building on the 4800 block of Connecticut Avenue NW. The bear and his companions -- two deer -- grazed in the vicinity for just a few minutes before leaving.

All these incidents pale in comparison to 2005's epic rampage by a deer that wandered into trendy Georgetown stores Diesel and Ralph Lauren. The deer was eventually tranquilized and removed from a dressing room it had holed itself up in.

RELATED VIDEO: Bear Sighting At Connecticut Avenue Apartment Building

View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

Comments

[natal plum]

06:17 PM on 10/28/2011

No doubt attracted by the foul smelling, dead, rotting corpse of Fannie Mae

[urbanlad]

06:15 PM on 10/28/2011

The wild wildlife of my old neighborhood. They've spotted deer, foxes, a bear on Ct. Ave. and now a mountain lion. Interesting.Gotta love urban living.

[brw1970]

11:45 AM on 10/28/2011

A mt lion was struck and killed by a car in Conn. last year (or maybe earlier this year) At first game officials believed it was an exotic pet that was released. Gentetic tests however showed it was similiar to a population is South Dakota. Also a scat sample in Michigan had the same geneticly as the animal killed.

[Igor Purlantov]

08:52 AM on 10/28/2011

Let's hope this mountain lion is not killed and can safely return to the wild.

[SimonBao]

11:44 AM on 10/28/2011

There's really no where "wild" in the DC Metro area where a mountain lion can be returned to... not without the mountain lion being a threat to humans and pets, and not without humans being a threat to the mountain lion.

[koelschwolf]

08:28 AM on 10/28/2011

PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T KILL IT.

[koelschwolf]

08:27 AM on 10/28/2011

first we have clowns in Washington and now wild animals?

[Edward Wilkes]

02:24 AM on 10/28/2011

The Lion was spotted near the Fanny Mae HQ --- Seems like this Lion knows who the enemy is! This Lion is part of the 99% for sure!!!!!!!!

[mass maritimer]

08:25 AM on 10/28/2011

beat me to it! Fanned

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

12:02 AM on 10/28/2011

I hope the mt. lion eats some of the darn Fannie-maniacs who helped create the big mess.

[PhotoJack45]

06:37 PM on 10/27/2011

Give me a break. Mountain lions have been gone from this area for over a hundred years. People see a coyote and think it's a mountain lion. Think about it: why do you think they call them "mountain" lions? See any mountains around here?

[SimonBao]

11:49 AM on 10/28/2011

No one has suggested this mountain lion is any kind of native.

Mountain lions *were* native to the DC area, prior to European colonization. Their range has never been restricted to mountains, their name notwithstanding.

And a mountain lion that were somehow released in the DC area could probably survive, as long as it dodges those trying to harm or capture it. The mountain lion that wandered the Brandywine Valley in the 1990s survived for a number of years, repeated sightings over a long period of time. Folks believe the lion thrived on white-tail deer and small game; it certainly never bothered anyone, nor their pets.

[emikoala]

06:25 PM on 10/27/2011

It's pretty likely he actually saw a bobcat, they can look like young mountain lions (http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/species/photos/050051-1.jpg) and unlike mountain lions are actually native to this region.

[bad spelling grammar]

05:41 PM on 10/27/2011

Hopefully they will tranquilize it and relocate it if it becomes a problem instead of just killing.

[karen lyons kalmenson]

04:08 PM on 10/27/2011

mountain lion not buying into the foreclaw-sure nonsense;-D

[mass maritimer]

08:26 AM on 10/28/2011

moan......

:)

[karen lyons kalmenson]

08:27 AM on 10/28/2011

and a grrrrr-roan;-D