I had just dropped the kids off at school and was on my way home, when I saw an animal up ahead run across the road. As I got closer, another one went right in front of me. I've never seen wild ones before. I would have been scared, if I hadn't been in my van. I watched them run away...right through someone's back yard. Then, one of them stopped and stared at me. I guess their coming down from the hills, because the deer are.

Oh wow. I want to live in a country that has Lions.
I saw a wild panther once at night here. But they don't officially exist in the UK, and are treated like UFO sightings by everyone, until they see it themselves.

Here in California if someone sees a mountain lion, even up in the mountains, someone hunts it down and kills it.

:(

How big are they?

mountain lions! that's really cool. i live in wisconsin so i think those are very much unheard of. the best i ever see is a racoon in Milwaukee. and i don't like evil zoos so i won't be seeing any of those animals anytime soon. :cry:

average weight is around 150 but males can get into the 200's.

i've seen one in the wild, while hiking alone, about 30 feet away from me. (see that post about near death experiences or something- won't post the entire story again).

cool you saw them, mushroom, but not cool they are being run out of their habitat of course. f'in humans :(

The book Tribe of Tiger (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743426894/qid=1045876490/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/103-9473003-7391008?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) has a lot of info on mountain lions (aKA Pumas and AKA something else). Very interesting stuff.

One of the mountain lions was about the size of my labs (and my labs are very big labs - about 100 lbs) The other looked to be about half grown and was spotted. They looked so incredibly wild...I have seen plenty of joggers on that very spot. Like I said, I was happy that I was in my van, but it was wonderful to see them in the wild.

It is sad that the wild animals are basically starving and finding in necessary to come into the "city" I've seen lots of deer, this year.

I saw a fox exiting the city with someones house cat in its mouth once.

mountain lions are also called cougars up here. my MIL was stalked by one a couple of years ago. she's a tiny lady and lives in a very rural area; she was working in her garden and saw her siamese cat go tearing into the house faster than she's ever seen it run, and then she looked around and there the cougar was, looming over her, looking down from a rock. she panicked and bolted and fell down onto some sharp rocks and got cut up pretty bad, but the cougar didn't chase or attack her, it just wandered off. i guess it was actually after the house cat.

around here people's cats are frequently picked off by coyotes.

We have lost a few cats...I'd like to think that the found new homes, but probably not. There are some coyotes around...

I’ve always wanted to see a mountain lion in the wild. In Illinois (where I live) I have heard that they were reintroduced in the Shawnee National Forest. Whether there is any validity to this claim I have yet to ascertain. I am going to CA this summer and am hopeful that while touring a few of the parks that I may happen across one (as well as a bear or two). This is doubtful though as I hear mountain lions are leery of humans (with good reason; think hunter). I have been lucky enough to see coyotes, red foxes, and a fleeting glimpse of a bobcat.

Jeremy, if you do come to California and you do see a mountain lion please don't tell anyone because if you do they will hunt it down and kill it. Anytime anyone sees one and they report it, it gets killed by the forest service

That is sad because I did a little research and there have only been ten fatal attacks since 1890 (no i didn't mistype, it really is supposed to 1890). Conversly, around 300 people have been killed by domestic dogs since 1979. I wonder if the forest service hunts down domestic dog sightings (humor intended).

Don't worry, if I see one I'll keep my mouth shut until I get back to this board.

Thanks for the tip.

I saw a javalina a couple of days ago...was my first sighting since moving to NM 4 1/2 years ago.

The rest of the family had already seen some. Once, when they were out for a walk with our labs, the labs suddenly came running back to the humans for safety. (A couple of javalinas were chasing them) and to protect our youngest children, my husband stood in the path of one of them, and received a small gash on his leg from one of their tusks.

Yes and they don't see very well and often accidentally run into YOU!

I lived in the mountains of Montana for 2 years. We were on unsettled land and saw wildlife often. I never saw a mountain lion close though. I could feel them watching me sometimes while I was out walking and when one would scream, the whole forest would go quiet. One winter morning, I woke up to find cougar tracks walking straight through the middle of camp. It amazed me because there were 12 dogs where I was living and none of them had alerted us.

I guess because there are none where I live, mountain lions don't scare me. Don't run and you *should* be fine. Run and you're prey. But I could be oversimplifying, as I said, none round here! I would LOVE to see one in the wild though... but I wanna see a wolf more...

I thought killing mountain lions was illegal in Calif
At least it is in the city I live in.
One time, jogging, a few years ago, early in the morning, were two coyotes, who came down from the hills...
I think they were at least as weary of us, as we were of them but we kept crossing the street to avoid them..

Originally posted by catmorrison
I think they were at least as weary of us, as we were of them

They were tired? teehee...

wary......I meant..LOL
but I am guessing we were more weary since we were jogging and the were casually trodding along, not even winded or scared, the way we were.........LOL

here in hawaii we dont worry about big things such as mountian lions. we worry about mongooses.

mushroom, what state do you live in that you were lucky enough to spot two in one day?

I live in NM

What do mongooses do?