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The El Dorado County (CA) Sheriff's Office reports that one of its deputies killed a mountain lion Monday that was stalking a family during a walk.

The deputy was responding to 911 calls from a couple walking on a bike trail east of Placerville. They were walking with their two small children in a stroller and had their two small dogs with them. They were being followed by an adult mountain lion for about 10 minutes. The family and others who arrived were yelling at the lion, but it continued to follow them, the sheriff's office reports.

A deputy arrived and watched as the lion was pacing back and forth on the trail. The deputy yelled at the lion which started walking toward the deputy instead of running away as a normal healthy mountain lion would. In a last effort to scare the animal away the deputy fired a warning shot into the ground in front of the lion. The lion continued in its path toward the deputy, further showing that it was not well and dangerous to the public. "The deputy had no option other than to put down the animal. The single mountain lion was the only lion observed in the area during the event," the sheriff's office says on Facebook.

The mountain lion was taken by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for further study.