Some county residents wary of mountain lions; cats seen in various areas

Driving home in late May, Joanna Main slammed on her brakes near the corner of her property in Kansas Settlement.

"At first I thought it was my dog, because it was sandy brown and bigger than my Labrador. But my child said, 'Kittie!' And I looked and saw its tail was as long as it was. Then I saw its big fangs - it was yawning or meowing or whatever they do," she said.

That was when Main figured out the fate of three of her dogs, possibly her goat, and likely a neighbor's dog. She reported the sighting to Arizona Game and Fish Department, who confirmed the mountain lion's existence by its tracks, said Duane Aubuchon, field supervisor.

Main said her deaf and blind dog "came up missing three days before I saw the mountain lion, and the dog never left the property. Two weeks before that, two other dogs were missing. My sister-in-law about a half-mile away also had a dog missing, then they found its paw. Something definitely got it," she said.

Main also had a goat that got killed, however, "we're not sure whether it was by the mountain lion or our dog. The dog was eating it, but we don't know what got it,"

She said another neighbor has recently heard noises, and has been keeping watch over his livestock in the barn at night.

The Mains live on Arzberger Road, about five miles from Kansas Settlement Road. Her sister-in-law is on Cattle Drive Road.

"We saw paw prints leading out to the pond about a week and a half ago," Main said.

She said she'd "been here since June 2003, and never had a problem before." However, her husband, Martin, has been there for six years, and he said there was a mountain lion there on the property six years ago.

With five children, the Mains take precautions, such as not letting the kids go outside early in the morning or when the sun is going down. "Mountain lions sleep during the day," she said, so that isn't really a problem.

On Thursday, June 22, Robert Atwood, 12, saw a mountain lion on his family's property near Fort Grant and Atwood roads at dusk, said his stepmother, Debbie Atwood.

"We identified the tracks by the wash. The mountain lion had come in to get water from the wash which had just been filled with rain water," she said.

Just before Memorial Day, a report was made of a dog being attacked and found dead on Taylor Road, Aubuchon said. Mountain lion tracks were confirmed, but the property and dog owner was not totally convinced a lion killed the dog.

In February, a woman reported sightings at the south end of Kansas Settlement Road, and those were confirmed with tracks, Aubuchon said. No pets or livestock were attacked.

"This year is not really worse than any other year as far as I can tell," he said. "We usually get four or five reports per year."

"Last year, there were reports of a mountain lion at a campground in Portal, and we had to dispatch that one. Another report was a hiker at Turkey Creek seeing a deer run by and then a mountain lion chasing after it."

No action was necessary for that report, he said.

Aubuchon said mountain lions usually live at the base or lower portion of the mountains, where their prey is. They come further into the valley to find either water or prey, he said.

"Since I've been here (2 1/2 years), there have been no reports of lion attacks with humans present. It's a very infrequent occurrence, even on the state level," Aubuchon said.

But it's best to know what to do and take preventative measure as well, he said.

When confronted by a lion, "a person should stand their ground," Aubuchon said.

"If a lion is acting curious, you definitely don't want to run. Look as big as you can, yell, pick up any rocks or sticks you can find and stand your ground. Then you should report it to the Arizona Game and Fish Dept. by calling the Tucson office at (520) 628-5376 or the Game Thief line, manned 24 hours, 1-800-352-0700."

Supervise children if there are any lion reports in your area, and take big dogs with you when hiking.

To prevent lions from coming to your property, don't attract lions' prey to your yard with feeders or pet food; and keep pets indoors at night, he said.