O’Neill Park Shut Down Indefinitely in Lion Scare

O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon--where a mountain lion was seen Monday--will remain closed indefinitely, the head of the county parks department said Wednesday. The park was shut down last Friday after mountain lion tracks were spotted.

“We have not formulated any plans as yet, so we can’t say when the park might be reopened,” said Harold J. Krizan, county director of parks and recreation. “We certainly hope it will be soon, although fresh tracks were found there again this (Wednesday) morning.”

Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park near San Juan Capistrano will be reopened Friday at 7 a.m., according to Tim Miller, manager of regional facilities for the parks department. Caspers was closed last October after a 6-year-old boy was attacked by a cougar there.

New Rules to Apply

The park also was the scene of the mauling of a child last March. When it reopens Friday, children will be allowed only in picnic areas and the reception and interpretive center. Persons 18 and older will be allowed on the trails only in groups of at least two, and they must sign papers indicating that they are aware of possible dangers from mountain lions, rattlesnakes and other wild creatures.

Krizan and Miller said they have been considering similar rules for O’Neill park, but Miller said: “We’ve got a tough decision to make, based on the interests of safety because the parks are so different.”

He said that O’Neill, which covers only 2,169 acres, has an annual attendance of about 160,000, contrasted with about 62,000 at Caspers, which spreads over 7,500 acres.

“And there are different types of use at O’Neill, which attracts large youth groups and many family groups for picnicking and camping, while those kinds of big group activities are less prevalent at Caspers,” he pointed out.

Miller said that, as of Wednesday afternoon, he had “no idea” when O’Neill could be opened again, adding that when park officials do come up with a plan, it must go to the Board of Supervisors for approval before it can be implemented.

Since O’Neill was closed last Friday, rangers have found fresh tracks every day, Miller said.

On Monday, a woman who had returned to the park to get the camper-trailer that she had left there when the park was closed reported seeing a big cat near the concession stand about 100 yards from the main gate on Live Oak Canyon Road. Her sighting was confirmed by rangers, who found fresh mountain lion tracks at the spot she pointed out.

Since then, paw prints of two cats, one large and one smaller, have been found every day in areas where rangers have swept the ground to eliminate older tracks. Most of these, Miller said, have been in the Arroyo Trabuco section of the park, a long, narrow strip that follows the bed of Trabuco Creek.