Are mountian lions voyeurs?
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2007 8:12 pm
Not sure how plausible this story is, but this "cat on the hot tub" story paints an interesting picture!
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 6925&rfi=8
Deadwood resident has a close encounter - of the furry kind
By: Mark Watson December 08, 2007
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DEADWOOD - Thursday morning was supposed to be relaxing for Deadwood resident Marlene Todd.
While her husband went hunting she decided to take a morning soak in her hot tub. That's when she had a close encounter of the furry kind.
"I hadn't been there three minutes. I had just crawled in there," Todd said.
She was fixing a broken jet in her small hot tub when the incident happened.
"I was kind of hidden, sitting with my back up against the side of the tub, and I heard a little rustling sound in the needles right beside me," she recalled. "I thought my cat could have got ten out. ... I turned back around and I saw this big, tan, hairy body against the side of the tub. We're talking four inches away from each other. I thought it was a big dog initially, but we don't have that color dog in the neighborhood. I didn't realize what it was till it took a leap and jumped up on the side of my hot tub."
It was then that Todd discovered that it was not a canine, but rather a large feline - a mountain lion.
"It was on the corner," she said. "It's hind legs were right beside me on the side of the hot tub."
Her hot tub is located in the back of her Pine Street house, and is right beside the steps that lead down from the upper deck of her house.
"Basically it was cornered underneath that staircase," she said. "Its only way out was to jump over the corner of the hot tub."
There was a lone deer feeding in her yard and Todd believes that the cat was fixated on that rather than her.
"I don't think she saw me until she took the leap up on the corner to get out of there," she said. "We met eye-to-eye and our heads were maybe three feet apart."
She initially saw the lion with its back even with the top of her 29-inch high tub. Then "there was that great big tail. She looked back at me and we locked eyes and I knew exactly what I was dealing with."
Then it jumped off knocking her robe into the hot tub with its long tail.
"I froze," she said, "I didn't make a peep.
"I don't know, they always tell you to look big and make loud noises, but I think with her cornered, and I caught her by such surprise, and being that close, that if I would have made any movement whatsoever she would have taken a swipe at me. She didn't think anyone was there, and I was right there. I think it could have been a lot more serious than it was if I did anything," she said.
This marked the first time she has ever seen a mountain lion but not the first time one was on her property. Last April the Todd's found tracks by the edge of their porch and in their yard.
"I've always said I would like to see one from the house," she said. "Now I know what a goldfish feels like when the cat is staring in its bowl."
Todd also weighed in on the controversial hunting season for the lions.
"I struggle that we have the hunt, and they (South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks) want to take so many females, and we leave the kittens out there," she said. "That bothers me, but they are getting really close. And yesterday could have turned horrible. It could have turned so bad, so quick being that close."
Todd said her neighbors have seen lions on their property several times.
A neighbor was inside her bedroom and saw one outside the window. "She said 'here kitty, kitty' and it turned around, and she took a picture of it," Todd said.
One killed and buried a deer in the neighbor's yard. And people have seen lions on the Todd's property three times.
"I have trees surrounding my property, but we are not out in the woods," she said. "I don't want to see them killed, I am an animal lover, I don't want to see them killed, but I don't want to be hurt either."
Todd said she called the police right away and they immediately responded. Later they called her back and notified her that they contacted Mike Apland, a conservation officer with the GF&P.
"If we get an immediate call we'll investigate it. Every situation is a little different, but in a case like this, where it was just a sighting, there isn't much that we can do," he said due to the amount of time that elapsed between the time of the sighting and the time he was notified.
"It draws alarm, but we have several cats in and around the Deadwood area, and it usually is an isolated sighting," he said.
Unless there are more problems, we monitor the area to see if it hanging around, he added.
"It's an area where we know there are lions, and we try to educate the public," Apland said. "We aren't going to go eliminate a lion unless it creates an immediate threat or problem."
In the meantime Todd said she won't be hot tubing alone anytime soon.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 6925&rfi=8
Deadwood resident has a close encounter - of the furry kind
By: Mark Watson December 08, 2007
Email to a friend Voice your opinion
Advertisement
DEADWOOD - Thursday morning was supposed to be relaxing for Deadwood resident Marlene Todd.
While her husband went hunting she decided to take a morning soak in her hot tub. That's when she had a close encounter of the furry kind.
"I hadn't been there three minutes. I had just crawled in there," Todd said.
She was fixing a broken jet in her small hot tub when the incident happened.
"I was kind of hidden, sitting with my back up against the side of the tub, and I heard a little rustling sound in the needles right beside me," she recalled. "I thought my cat could have got ten out. ... I turned back around and I saw this big, tan, hairy body against the side of the tub. We're talking four inches away from each other. I thought it was a big dog initially, but we don't have that color dog in the neighborhood. I didn't realize what it was till it took a leap and jumped up on the side of my hot tub."
It was then that Todd discovered that it was not a canine, but rather a large feline - a mountain lion.
"It was on the corner," she said. "It's hind legs were right beside me on the side of the hot tub."
Her hot tub is located in the back of her Pine Street house, and is right beside the steps that lead down from the upper deck of her house.
"Basically it was cornered underneath that staircase," she said. "Its only way out was to jump over the corner of the hot tub."
There was a lone deer feeding in her yard and Todd believes that the cat was fixated on that rather than her.
"I don't think she saw me until she took the leap up on the corner to get out of there," she said. "We met eye-to-eye and our heads were maybe three feet apart."
She initially saw the lion with its back even with the top of her 29-inch high tub. Then "there was that great big tail. She looked back at me and we locked eyes and I knew exactly what I was dealing with."
Then it jumped off knocking her robe into the hot tub with its long tail.
"I froze," she said, "I didn't make a peep.
"I don't know, they always tell you to look big and make loud noises, but I think with her cornered, and I caught her by such surprise, and being that close, that if I would have made any movement whatsoever she would have taken a swipe at me. She didn't think anyone was there, and I was right there. I think it could have been a lot more serious than it was if I did anything," she said.
This marked the first time she has ever seen a mountain lion but not the first time one was on her property. Last April the Todd's found tracks by the edge of their porch and in their yard.
"I've always said I would like to see one from the house," she said. "Now I know what a goldfish feels like when the cat is staring in its bowl."
Todd also weighed in on the controversial hunting season for the lions.
"I struggle that we have the hunt, and they (South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks) want to take so many females, and we leave the kittens out there," she said. "That bothers me, but they are getting really close. And yesterday could have turned horrible. It could have turned so bad, so quick being that close."
Todd said her neighbors have seen lions on their property several times.
A neighbor was inside her bedroom and saw one outside the window. "She said 'here kitty, kitty' and it turned around, and she took a picture of it," Todd said.
One killed and buried a deer in the neighbor's yard. And people have seen lions on the Todd's property three times.
"I have trees surrounding my property, but we are not out in the woods," she said. "I don't want to see them killed, I am an animal lover, I don't want to see them killed, but I don't want to be hurt either."
Todd said she called the police right away and they immediately responded. Later they called her back and notified her that they contacted Mike Apland, a conservation officer with the GF&P.
"If we get an immediate call we'll investigate it. Every situation is a little different, but in a case like this, where it was just a sighting, there isn't much that we can do," he said due to the amount of time that elapsed between the time of the sighting and the time he was notified.
"It draws alarm, but we have several cats in and around the Deadwood area, and it usually is an isolated sighting," he said.
Unless there are more problems, we monitor the area to see if it hanging around, he added.
"It's an area where we know there are lions, and we try to educate the public," Apland said. "We aren't going to go eliminate a lion unless it creates an immediate threat or problem."
In the meantime Todd said she won't be hot tubing alone anytime soon.