Mountain lions in urban areas — Are they in Austin?
In July I posted about The Beast in the Garden by David Baron, a nonfictional look at Boulder’s experience with mountain lions moving into suburbia. A real page-turner, the book follows the escalation of lion attacks from pets to humans, as well as the changing perceptions of nature in America. Over the last hundred or so years, our national mood has changed from “mold nature to our will” to “manage and preserve it” to “adapt ourselves to it.” Thanks to our changing attitudes, particularly toward large predators, Baron predicts that lions will soon be reclaiming their old territory, even in urban areas.
Well, they’re here. My father-in-law (who also read the book with interest) emailed today to tell me about a local news story about missing pets in Jonestown, a small town 20 miles northwest of Austin. Residents report that 20 cats and dogs have disappeared recently. “The Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden says the culprit could very well be a mountain lion,” reports KVUE. Mountain lion tracks have been found in Jonestown.
Twenty miles is well within a mountain lion’s home range (anywhere from 30 to 100 square miles is typical), so lions could already be in parts of Austin too. I love sighting wild animals as much as anyone, and I know I’d be thrilled to spot a mountain lion . . . from a distance. But I sure don’t want to see one in my back yard.
Baron says where the deer go, the lion will follow. I’ll be on the lookout for deer that stray across Loop 1, looking for an easy meal. It may be harder to spot a lion looking for an easy meal, but they may be here too.
Scary. Not that suprising, though. I’m sure they’re all over the rural areas surrounding Austin. It’s just not something you think about.
We often hike with our kids through state parks and the greenbelts surrounding Austin. So we’ll be thinking about it now, just as we do when we hike in Colorado. —Pam
There were sightings of a cougar along the jogging trail across the street from my office a few years ago. I used to jog there myself but never saw anything. There were warning signs posted however about keeping small dogs on a short leash. Cougar, mountain lion and panther are different names for the same thing aren’t they? My wife said one was captured outside an office building in Irving while she was visiting.
Yes, those are different names for the same animal. Also, cat o’ mount. How close to town was your office where the cougar was spotted? —Pam
I live in Jonestown about 1 block from the lake. The last few mornings we have been hearing something big in the brush next to our home. It walks back and forth and in circles. My husband and I called the police dept. yesterday morning, they came out and looked around alittle but by then it was about 7am and so they did not see anything or hear anything so they left. We hear it around 6am until the sun comes up at 7am. This morning it was there again so I got a flashlight and stood on the porch after a few minutes the sound stopped and in my flashlight thier were two big yellow eyes just looking at me. I also have two cats missing now for weeks not unlike my neighbors. We dont know what to do we have kids and are worried that whatever this is will soon get tired of small animals. The city seems to be of no help and we are looking for some advice.
Tracy Watson
Tracy, I have no personal experience with mountain lions (thank goodness), but you might start by contacting a state wildlife official and asking them to look around your property for lion sign (scat, tracks, claw marks, etc.). If that goes nowhere, maybe there’s a local wildlife enthusiast who could do the same for you. It may turn out to be a different animal altogether.
I would definitely recommend reading The Beast in the Garden for information on how Boulder handled its cougar “problem.” I hope that Jonestown, and by extension, Austin, can avoid making the same mistakes once mountain lions become more of a presence here. —Pam