A mountain lion in the neighborhood

[gja1000]

This was a play on words from Judy's "bear on my porch" No, not our neighborhood, my daughter's neighborhood! No kidding.

Here's the story. When we were in Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago, I read in an Austin forum that a cougar (mountain lion) had been spotted in Round Rock (the town my daughter lives in - about 10 miles north of where I live in Austin). That piqued my interest so I read farther and then it said someone had seen it crossing highway 620 which is the highway that is parallel to my daughter's addition. So, I read farther and it went on to say that it was spotted in the Tanglewood addition as well as the OAKLANDS addition - which of course is where my daughter lives.

So, I called her and yes, she had heard about it, but everyone was sorta thinking it was probably a big dog or a big cat something else, rather than a mountain lion and that's what I thought too.

Well, last Sunday, neighbors two doors down from my daughter came over to say that something had killed their cat and all that was left was fur and blood. They also said there was a LARGE paw print close to the remains. My sil took a picture of the print with a ball point pen laying next to it and it was almost as long as the pen - definitely not a dog paw print. Well that got their attention.

So, they called us and we took over one of Gary's game cameras. You set up a game camera in an area where you think you might see game walking through, such a deer or hogs. It will also take pictures all day/night long. It is motion activated and only takes a picture when something moves in front of it. They have the camera pointed to the greenbelt (wooded) area behind their house, but haven't yet seen anything.

Well, this morning a man came to my daughter's house, he lives a few streets over from her and he said that he had heard a cat had been killed in her cove and wondered if she knew anything about it, which of course she did. He said his house backs up to a creek and he had seen the mountain lion two days ago. He said he is from west Texas and KNOWS what a mountain lion looks like and this is definitely a mountain lion. He also said that ALL the cats are gone from his street - he had 2 his neighbor had 2 and others had cats and they are ALL GONE.

Some people have contacted the TX Parks and Wildlife but they say they can't do anything until there is a human confrontation. Uhhhh, I think that is too late to do something. Anyway, the man said he was going to contact someone who could set a live trap for it - hopefully that will work.

There is occasionally mountain lions spotted in urban areas, but they are usually just passing through, and are only spotted a time or two. This one however, is apparently lingering in the area because there is water and food (cats). It is pretty unsettling to Brooke and her family - even though their backyard is fenced, just letting the dog out to do her business, gives one an uneasy feeling, especially after the events of today.

Oh, and my sil is going to set up the game camera behind the man's house that my daughter talked to today - it is more likely they will catch the cat on camera if the camera is pointed toward the creek. And I think if they did get a picture of it the Parks and Wildlife folks might be more inclined to help.

And who says it is not exciting to live in the city! Actually, my daughter's addition is not in the city proper. It is along a well traveled highway (620), but is in a very wooded area that is flanked by a pretty large creek.