WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A Wichita woman says she put security cameras around her house to scare off thieves. Little did she know she would catch a cougar, or mountain lion, strolling through her Riverside backyard.
Cristin Boyle has six cameras watching and rolling on whatever might happen around and near her house. But something caught on camera around 4 a.m. Monday surprised her.
“It’s definitely not normal for Wichita, especially in Midtown, this is not a normal occurrence,” she said.
The security footage shows an animal cross the screen from left to right, casually walking through Boyle’s backyard.
“First reaction was I thought it was a bobcat,” she said.
After a second glance, Boyle realized it was not a bobcat or a large house cat.
“I watched it and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! That is a mountain lion, that is definitely a mountain lion!'” she said.
Boyle quickly contacted animal control, then the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. She says a game warden confirmed to her it was, in fact, a mountain lion in the middle of Wichita in her video.
KSN also reached out to the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. A warden responded to us, “Yes, it’s a lion.”
“I mean, alarming, yes, disturbing, kind of, but pretty neat that we got to see this in our own backyard,” she said.
Boyle said she and the game warden notified Wichita police. A lieutenant said the animal is not likely a threat but is telling neighbors in Riverside to keep an eye on small pets just in case.
