You never know what kind of animals will pay a visit to your home. Recently, one family was shocked to learn about the creature that had been hiding under their home, after their pet dog made quite a discovery.
On Sunday morning in a home in Boulder, Colorado, a pet dog began to alert the homeowners that something was wrong.
According to a press release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, he led them to the deck in their backyard. The owners checked to see what the fuss was about, thinking a raccoon had gotten under the deck.
They quickly discovered that it wasn’t a raccoon, but a much bigger, more potentially dangerous animal: a mountain lion!
The mountain lion, a sub-adult male weighing about 115-120 pounds, had been cozying up in the one-foot clearance under their deck. They immediately contacted Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who arrived on the scene.
Mountain lions aren’t exactly a rare sighting in the area — CPW says they had recently had 17 other reports of mountain lions in the area — but the predators can pose a danger to both humans and pets.
“Leading up to this over the past couple weeks, we’ve had several pets taken in town by a sub-adult lion, probably siblings in town,” CPW Wildlife Officer Tyler Asnicar explained, saying that mountain lions can end up in town after following their prey base and saying the mountain lion was “in town looking for something to eat.”
Thankfully, their pet dog discovered the big cat under their home before anything happened, and the mountain lion was able to be safely and humanely removed from the area.
Given the circumstances, CPW decided to tranquilize and relocate the mountain lion from the family’s home.
“It is not a good situation to have a big predator like that close to so many people,” Asnicar said. “It is better for the people and the cat to try to move it. Relocation was our best approach in this case.”
The story of this mountain lion has gone viral, but the CPW stresses that it’s nothing new and nothing to be overly concerned about, as long as you prepare and take safety precautions.
“Cats are going to come and go, it is not a new thing and it isn’t going to go away, so know that if you are out and about in town you have a chance of coming upon a mountain lion or other predators as well like bears, coyotes and foxes,” Asnicar said.
“So keep an eye on your pets, keep an eye on your kids and teach them what to do if they were to encounter a mountain lion or bear.”
Finding a wild animal under your home can be quite a frightening surprise, but we’re glad that everything worked out and this mountain lion has been safely relocated!
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