With gloomy skies and temperatures in the 30s, Sunday wasn't a fit day out for man nor beast. But the weather didn't deter Houston lawyer Tina Nicholson from an afternoon run in Harris County's Terry Hershey Park. And it certainly didn't stop what Nicholson described as “a big cat” — possibly a mountain lion — from staking out a menacing spot on a bluff 20 feet above the bike trail.
Nicholson said the encounter alarmed her because the park's narrow margin of woodland along Buffalo Bayou provides little room for the carnivores to live and hide. “People bring their kids here all the time,” she said of the park, which extends from Beltway 8 to Texas 6. “Houses back up to the park. ...Dangerous interaction with people is inevitable.”
John Laine, assistant chief constable for the precinct, said his officers searched the park for signs of the animal Sunday and again Monday, but found nothing. He said his officers have received no other reports of the animal.
Texas Parks and Wildlife officials say mountain lion attacks are rare, but have increased in recent decades. A fatal Texas mountain lion encounter happened, on average, once every 6 1/2 years from 1890 to 2001.
Game Warden Capt. Albert Lynch said the presence of a mountain lion in Houston's suburbs is possible, especially if it was an escaped or abandoned pet. Late last year, his office received reports of large cats in counties surrounding Houston, but no animals were found.
“I'm not disputing that this may have taken place,” Laine said. “When you have fast development infringing on the territory of wild animals, moving them into smaller confined areas, you're going to see them. Raccoons. Bobcats. Possibly coyotes.”
Nicholson said she was only about 100 feet from the animal when she spotted it. She couldn't immediately identify it, but “it didn't look right.” The woman slowly backed down the trail until she met her husband, who had been following at a walk. Together they watched the animal for several minutes.
When a man and his dog caught up to the couple, the feline — about the size of a German shepherd — stood up and walked toward a nearby residential area.
Nicholson said the beast had big ears and an extremely long tail. “I just kept thinking, ‘That's a big cat! That's a big cat!'”
Nicholson said she later identified the animal as a mountain lion through Internet research.
Adult mountain lions can grow to about eight feet in length and weigh close to 200 pounds.
Tim Dunbar, executive director of the Sacramento, Ca.-based Mountain Lion Foundation, said Nicholson's description of the animal matches that of mountain lions.
“They are found on the urban edges more and more,” he said. “They really don't want to be associated with humans. They would watch unseen. They don't view us as prey species — they're pretty much hard-wired to eat deer — but that doesn't mean they won't react or attack.”
Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6846172.html
