The Bay Area has always been Mountain Lion country. A few years back, a jogger at a park along the American River in Sacramento was taken down by one. When I lived in Antioch, I used to go walking up at Black Diamond Mines- and there were cautions about them there.
Without irrigation, the Modesto area is awfully dry and without commercial orchards, not very wooded. There is a river there, but I've never seen any beaver in it. Could be wrong, but it seems a really odd place for them to turn up.
>>When I lived in Antioch, I used to go walking up at Black Diamond Mines- and there were cautions about them there.<<
I live in Antioch, and right now we have a LOT of coyotes. Two years ago one tried to attack my golden retriever while I was walking her on the SIDEWALK on Hillcrest Ave.
let alone to do havoc on the levees....