Mountain Lion Seen

On July 5, 2011 at about 2:00pm, a resident in the area of  16100 blk of Via Del Alba,  saw what he described as a Mountain Lion cross his driveway.  The animal was walking.  It was not aggressive.  The sighting was reported to Fish and Game.  If you see a Mountain Lion you should not approach the animal.   If you should see a mountain lion, you are encouraged to call Fish and Game at 858-467-4257.  If the animal is a threat, call 911.

Although historically sightings are rare, there are several types of wild animals that live here in Rancho Santa Fe.  Mountain Lions main food source is deer and coyotes.  Eliminating plant species that attract deer help discourage mountain lions from coming into the area. 

Please take precautions – mountain lions are most active at night as well as dusk and dawn.  Do not leave children outside unattended; don’t leave pet food or food that may attract animals outside.  Do not leave animals outside unattended.  Horses should be kept in stalls in the barn.  Be careful when walking/ jogging at dusk and dawn time periods.   If you see a mountain lion- make noise-lots of it.  Yell, scream, and bang on something.  For example, pocket sized air horns are a good way to do that.

If you have any questions please call the Dept of Fish and Game at 858-467-4201  or the RSF Patrol 858-756-4372.

For more information:  www.keepmewild.org

4th of July

Our Annual 4th of July Parade is Monday.  The parade starts at the RSF Association Office and goes through the village to end where it starts.   Form up for the parade starts at 12- 12:30.   The parade starts at 1:00pm.  There is a community BBQ immediately following in the park. To make the form  up easier, please keep this in mind:

1. Kids, Bikes go to the back of the lot by the Community Center.
2. Kids have to wear Helmets if they are on bicycles (good idea for skateboards too)
3.  Please, no candy in cars, floats. Throwing candy causes small kids to run into the moving vehicles.
4. Tell your children to stay in formation.  It is dangerous if they run ahead or through the parade.
5.  Antique cars overheat.  If the car has radiator or cooling issues, it may be best not to drive it. 
6. Horses are last.  Only well trained parade horses should participate.  The route is noisy with loud speakers, sirens and lots of people.  If the horses cannot be controlled safely we will ask them to move out of the parade.
7. Have Fun.

More Info On Mountain Lions

This came to us from our Neighbors over in Stone Bridge  Near El Camino Real and  La Noria.

Announcement from Stonebridge POA [Rancho Santa Fe, CA] 

This email is to inform you that one of your neigbors reported that there was a mountain lion siting at the entrance of the community on Friday May 27. It was a female with 2 large cubs – one of whom stopped to look and snarl. Her boldness would indicate that your pets may not be safe unless well fenced even in daytime.

Mountain Lion Seen Near Fairbanks Ranch

Fairbanks Ranch Security reported that a resident's employee in their community spotted a Mountain Lion on Saturday May 21.  It was on a horse ranch near El Apajo and the San Dieguito River area.  This is a common area for these animals to be seen.  As far as we know, the sighting has not been confirmed by Fish and Game.  See earlier posts for precaustions with these animals.    

Sheriff Crime Mapping Tool

San Diego Sheriff Announces:
Crimemapping.com
The Sheriff’s Department has launched a new Internet tool for the residents of San Diego County. Crimemapping.com, a creation of San Diego-based Omega Group, retrieves crime data, maps it by address, and positions it in crime categories for web users to view. Sensitive crimes, such as domestic violence and sex crimes will not be posted.  Users can see mapped crime; generate summary reports for various time periods, directly link to crime prevention information, and sign up for e-mail alerts. The link will also be available on the Sheriff’s Internet site as a Public Resource, as well as the Crime Prevention and Crime Analysis pages. Crimemapping.com also has the capacity to automatically send e-mail notifications of recent crimes and then go from mapped crime to real action. Each crime on the map will link back to the Sheriff’s Crime Prevention information page. Users can enter an address or select a specific city within the Sheriff’s jurisdiction. Users will click on a crime and the reported date, time, and general location will be
displayed except Domestic Violence/Sex Assaults. “This is giving our citizens timely information for informed action,” commented Sheriff Gore. “The website sums it up well when it says, ‘well-informed people make better decisions.” For more information, contact the Encinitas Crime Prevention Unit,  @ (760) 966-3587 or 88    http://www.sdsheriff.net/

Magazine Sellers

Over the years we have encountered young adults going door to door selling magazine subscriptions.  One of the ruses is to tell you that they represent a local sports team- like soccer or baseball.  Or, they may say that the neighbor  "the Smith's" down the street just gave me some money......  (that's because they just read their name sign out front......)  They are very slick in their approach.  Well a new batch of solicitors are going door to to door in neighboring areas- here is some info from the Sheriff's Dept. :

Magazine sales scam in San Diego County are being reported to law enforcement. Several students from Cal State San Marcos have been victimized, one for over $500.00 cash in Vista. There were a call from Escondido as well. The Reporting Parties are reporting that part of the ruse is that they are part of project/class with Cal State San Marcos and/or San Diego State. Report any suspicious activity to the Sheriff's Department @ 858-565-5200.

Door to door vendors have to have permits issued by the Sheriff.  They have to be visible and backed up by another legitimate form of ID.  Church groups are exempt.  Our suggestion is not to give anything to door to door vendors.  If you want to donate money, ask them to send you something in the mail.  That way you will have time to look it over and decide if it is legitimate.  They should have a Federal Tax ID number.  Sometimes these solicitors are crooks looking for a way into your house or "casing the  place". 

Burglary Warning

We have had a few burglaries since the beginning of the year.  All of the burglaries are occurring during the daytime and entry to the homes has been without force in most of the cases.  It appears that the suspects are most likely approaching the house and knock on the door- if someone answers they maybe ask for work.   When no one answers, they proceed to look for a location to gain entry.  Losses include all different kinds of personal items.   We urge everyone to lock their homes when they leave, turn on alarm systems  and report people coming to the door looking for work that seem suspicious.