WHEN SEVEN cats disappeared from her Carmel Valley animal sanctuary in just 24 hours, Allegra Braun knew something was wrong.

A neighbor, Carol Wilheim, reported seeing a mountain lion lurking in the neighborhood, so Braun had an idea where the cats had gone.

In early December, a few days after the cats disappeared, Braun confirmed her worst fears. Shortly after sunset, she heard a commotion in the barn where her remaining 9 cats live. With a flashlight in hand, she peered inside.

“The cats were doing acrobatics in their cages,” she recalled. “They were clinging to the cages like wallpaper with expressions of complete and total fear on their faces. And here was this mountain lion crouched down and looking up at them.”

For a moment, Braun was transfixed by the mountain lion, which she identified as a young male.

“It was the most amazing, most exotic, alien-like creature I had ever seen,” she said.

Then Braun did something that surprised even herself. She had a flashlight in one hand and a brochure about the animal sanctuary in the other and, rather than fleeing, she scolded the lion.

“See this brochure?” she said in a stern voice. “You’re not supposed to be here!”

Perhaps blinded by the flashlight, the lion turned and suddenly fled the barn through another door. But five minutes later he was back.

“I went to call the sheriff,” Braun recounted. “When I returned, he was in the barn looking at the cats again. Then he looked at me like he was thinking, ‘Oh, bleep, she’s back.’”

The mountain lion didn’t appear fazed by the second encounter. Giving up on the cats, he casually — and confidently — walked toward Braun, who was standing in the middle of a path just outside the barn. The lion nearly grazed up against her as he slinked back to the darkness.

“He was so close to me that I could have reached down and petted him,” she halfheartedly laughed as she recalled the encounter. “A month later, there’s still adrenaline running through my body.”

Braun said she never intended to create an animal sanctuary. She was simply looking for a place to board her horse. A neighbor offered up a section of his property in exchange for Braun’s landscaping talents, and before long, the Love Your Pet Animal Sanctuary was born.

During the past decade, Braun has taken in a virtual Noah’s Ark worth of unwanted animals, including lambs, geese, cats, dogs, hamsters, sheep and goats.
“Most animals come here with all kinds of issues,” she explained. “They’re pregnant, they have worms ... all sorts of problems.”

Using the proceeds from her pet-sitting business, Braun would rehabilitate animals while seeking new homes for them. Meanwhile, she added a corral, a barn, a garden and a vineyard, and soon the sanctuary took on a life of its own.

“People were curious about the place,” she said. “They would visit from all over.

Parents started bringing their children to the sanctuary, transforming it into a part-time petting zoo.

“It’s a magical place,” suggested Nancy Chira-Garcia, a Carmel resident who often brings her 7-year-old daughter, Jenna, to the sanctuary, which is located across the road from Garland Park. “If my daughter is having a hard day at school, I’ll say, ‘Let’s head to the sanctuary.’ It’s the kind of place that just makes you feel good.”

Sadly, as a response to the mountain lion encounter, Braun is closing the sanctuary.

“When you have a predator that’s going to keep coming around, the animals will never be safe,” she said. “The sanctuary is under siege. It’s too stressful to keep it going.”

While Braun has found people to adopt most of her animals, she is still looking for homes for two goats, two horses and nine cats. The goats and the horses are only available as pairs because they’ve been together so long.

Meanwhile, Braun has some advice for Carmel Valley pet owners. “Pay attention to your animals,” she suggested. “I’ve learned to watch them sniff the air and I’ve observed how the hair on their backs stands up at a smell. Animals are very clear about their fears, if we pay attention to them.”

If you’re interested in adopting one of Braun’s animals, you can reach her at (831) 224-8080.