Orange Street News
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EXCLUSIVE: LOCAL WOMAN FINDS MOUNTAIN LION LIVING UNDER HER HOUSE!
By Hilde Kate Lysiak
February 23, 2019
A Patagonia woman was shocked to discover that she was sharing her house with a mountain lion.
When Cindy Peterson woke up on the morning of the 15th and looked out the same window she has looked out for years, she saw a bit of a different site than usual — a pair of paws coming from underneath her porch.
“At first, I saw the paws and was like wow that’s a big kitty, cause there are cats that run around the area, but as I started looking at it more I realized it was a mountain lion. She was just sitting there, licking her paws, not a care in the world […] We can hear, it must climb up the tree’s cause we can hear it pouncing on our roof.,” Peterson told the Orange Street News.
Peterson also has a theory about why the mountain lion had chosen to share her home.
“It must have been a mom who was either captured or abandoned her two cubs. They are a boy and girl and they are running around town,” Peterson told the OSN.
Peterson became concerned about the kids that played in the area and didn’t want them to get hurt, so she called 911. After calling at about 7am, they arrived at 10am. They came back a few days later to put of cameras in hopes of catching the mountain lion.
Peterson preferred not sharing her address for the concern of the mountain lions welfare. A concern of hers is that hunters will come down and shoot the mountain lion.
Last week the OSN exclusively reported a mountain lion was spotted on Roadrunner Lane. The witness took a picture. (Below)
According to Peterson Law Enforcement told her that if they saw the mountain lion in town, they would have to shoot it.
Mountain lion attacks are very rare.
A total of 125 attacks, 27 of which fatal, have been documented in North America in the past 100 years, according to Wikipedia.
Meanwhile, in the United States there have been 302 deaths from lightning strikes between 2007 and 2016.
“We don’t want to kill it, we want it alive, it is so beautiful,” Peterson told the Orange Street News.
Orange Street News 
That is SO wrong that this beautiful cat has to be killed!! All because she is in the city?? DOESNT MAKE SENSE!! There are TOO MANY people who find this as a SICK sport! Law or no law……. HOW DARE YOU!!?? This shouldn’t be! Please leave what beautiful animals we do have remaining… ALONE!!
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Using “Youthism” logic I suppose you should interview the M Lion and find out if it likes to eat kids, if not then let it stay. However experience has shown that these wild animals do catch and kill their prey. Note that the low incidence of ML/people fatal interactions probably has to do with the fact that the cats stay away from people. They have learned we are dangerous. They err on the side of caution. Capture and relocate seems the best option for us since we can’t interview the cat to find out if it likes to eat red headed kids.
Point to remember: Experience [learned from others or first hand] while not perfect, protects us when circumstances prevent us from knowing the whole story.
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We have infringed on their territory. It is up to us to care and relocate the lions. Killing them should only be acceptable if they have attacked, killed or began to become threatening to humans..we should give them space. Of course if I lived in the area that they have been frequenting it would scare the begeebers out of me, especially under my house. Pretty soon it will be at the back door waiting for the dog or a child to come out. I think these are among the threatening to us idea.. Is there not enough food for them? Was she on the hunt for her cubs? Sounds as though she has become quite comfortable under this ladies porch…..I do find that disturbing. I do agree withe John Lawrence, too bad we can not interview the lion.😊
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Yes, we have infringed on their territory and they are just trying to continue to survive as they always have before we took over their land. But relocating them and caring for them won’t work. Just ask any American Indian how well we did when we took their land, relocated them and “cared” for them.
The reality is that we HAVE encroached on this cougar’s land and it seems that she is no longer afraid of humans. Cougars are predatory animals, meaning that they prefer to hunt, kill, and consume their own meals. They don’t chose from a prepared menu, but from he opportunities presented to it. When multiple menu items are available she will select her meal by the following criteria:
1. Injured/disabled prey is the easiest to catch.
2. sick prey is usually slower than healthy prey
3. smaller/younger prey with less escape experience is easier than experienced prey
4. Healthy/mature prey is the most difficult.
So, injured and sick animals will disappear from the neighborhood first, followed by smaller cats, dogs, and children. The cougar isn’t being mean. It’s just being a cougar. The same holds true for coyotes, bears, wolfs, and any other predatory animal. We don’t usually have the option of waiting to see what the animal’s intentions are before we act to remove the possible threat.
The only real way to preserve and protect wildlife is to STOP taking over and/or developing the little bit of natural habitat that they have left to them Tell your local, state and federal representatives that they can either help defend the wildlife, or they can defend themselves in he next election!
You CAN ask the cougar for her opinion of the whole mess. Washington State runs Public Service Announcements telling people that if they encounter a cougar, they should grab the bottom of their coat/jacket and raise their arms over their head and wave them around. That is supposed to make the cougar fear you and behave itself.
My personal opinion is that, if you want to approach an overgrown kitty-kat while trying to look like an overgrown bird – you are not likely to survive the interview!
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Hi Hilde I read all your books. They are the best! You are great at reporting news! Did you really find a water spout? If you did you are amazing so cool! From Your biggest fan
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SOOOOO wrong
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