LA CRESCENTA — Deputies banged pots and pans and shooed away three bobcats from a backyard Tuesday night, a sheriff’s official said.

A resident spotted the felines in the 5300 block of Pineridge Drive and called deputies at 5:24 p.m.

Lt. Elisabeth Sachs of the sheriff’s Crescenta Valley Station said deputies responding to a call about mountain lions in a backyard recognized the animals as bobcats. It was a mother bobcat and her two cubs.

Sgt. Gary Ogurek said the animals were sleeping in a backyard.

Deputies notified Fish & Game and called for a helicopter. But the feline visitors weren’t budging,

Sachs said the mother bobcat then moved into another backyard. It belonged to a family with children, she added.

Deputies, a sergeant and a lieutenant resorted to a low tech approach to send the animals back up the hill. Sachs said the lieutenant banged two pan lids together like cymbals to scare the bobcat.

“It was basically pots and pans. They finally made enough noise,” she said, adding that the bobcat jumped over the wall and headed into the mountain. The younger bobcats followed.

“The critters decided it wasn’t a good place to sleep. We try to improvise,” Ogurek said.

– Ruby Gonzales