KB isn’t the only one living in mountain lion country — although we haven’t taken great videos like she has!
A few nights ago here in town a fellow let his beagle out into his backyard, and the dog immediately charged something in the bushes. The fellow heard a huge howling, figured the dog was attacking a cat or some other small animal, and rushed over to separate them. When he reached into the bushes he touched a full-size mountain lion on the shoulder. Fortunately the lion let go of the dog and ran off. The dog was seriously injured and needed to be taken to the emergency vet in Santa Fe 35 miles away. The dog is now back home and is expected to recover. The fellow is still recovering from the shock.
Since then we’ve heard another dog was killed by a mountain lion in another part of town, so dog owners have been warned to be careful.
My favorite mountain lion story is the fellow who went up in the mountains years ago to hunt wild turkeys. He was peacefully sitting with his back resting on a log, blowing his turkey whistle, when a mountain lion pounced on him from behind. The fellow said he didn’t know who was the most startled, him or the lion. The lion ran off and the fellow never tried that again.
Do you have to be careful about any animals where you live?
May 16, 2015
Forest rats are such pests, and so arrogant, too. They look at us calmly as we shriek and throw rocks at them, and casually walk away. The grandgirls think we’re awful to call deer ‘rats’ and are happy to see such cute beasts eating our flowers, knocking over the huckleberry bushes, etc. We don’t want to fence our garden, we want a “natural” one, and only wish nature didn’t include so many deer.
I suppose your neighbors would object if you imported a mountain lion to keep the pests in check?
only careful about human animals here. especially if they’re driving a car. 🙂
once in Colorado we were driving along the highway with the Arkansas river running along one side down a steep embankment. the other side was the mountain.
a two lane road.
suddenly a mountain lion like the one pictured above… used the hood of our car for a trampoline! he jumped from a cliff on the left and then he pounced on the hood and catapulted himself down the bank to the river. for a drink of cool water i guess.
either it was a lucky accident or his timing was impeccable.
knowing the intelligence and agility of a cat … i would say his timing was impeccable.
the dent in the hood however was not! 😀
A great story! Thanks.
The only mountain lion I’ve seen is one that crossed the highway just in front of us when I was driving in Montana once. It was very self-assured, and as I recall, I slowed down for it.
we don’t go in for such large animals roaming other cattle and sheep herds in the counryside being herded to some other place… nor do we do slithery sort of animals of thebig bad biting kind 🙂
more are just scary like weta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weta
They do look scary! But apparently they will run away if you give them a chance.
The only wild animals around my home are deer.
Last year I had a regular visitor but none so far this year.
My sister lives on the edge of the city, a block from a state park.
She hasn’t had problems with coyotes but her neighbors have.
I have seen a mountain lion up close though. When my boss was married, he and his then wife had a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city. There were several out-buildings but the old barn had been redone. Inside of the barn, half of it was enclosed with heavy chain-link fencing that was surrounded by another enclosed chain-link area so that it formed a secure walkway around it. Inside of the enclosure was the wife’s rescued mountain lion. She was the only one that was able to go in and care for him.
On the other side of the barn, there wasn’t a wall. Instead the enclosure extended out and was exposed to the sunlight and had a big limb and other things growing inside.
It looked lovely, like a greenhouse really, but with chain-link instead of glass.
So, the wife commissioned me to paint the big propane tank that was just feet away, (she wanted it to look like a cat she had) So I came out and was painting in the sun and felt like I was being watched. After a while, I turned and stared at the “greenhouse” and that’s when I realized her mountain was lounging on the big limb, watching me.
Although he was behind a double enclosure, it freaked me out a bit.
LOL!
I’m with you. That would be startling!
Large dangerous animals are not common here in Arkansas. There are bear, though we have never seen one here and moutain lions have been confirmed to be present in the state. Karen and our oldest daughter saw a large alligator several years ago in a nearby park.
We do see non-dangerous animals in our yard on occasion. Besides the normal birds and the squirreels, we sometimes see deer and wild turkeys. Once, a red fox trotted across our yard while we were sitting on our porch just a few feet away. And there’s the nocturnal o’possoms, skunks and armadillos. A first just this week was the road runner Karen saw down by the garden.
You see a lot more animals than we do down here in town. And the alligator, possums and armadillos are clearly more Southeast than Southwest.
Yes, the two legged variety, particularly of the political persuasion.