Backyard lion too close for comfort

A couple who live in the Woods Bay area have the green light to kill a mountain lion that has been hanging around their home over the last week.

It started Monday morning when Patty and Dave Storest heard a scream outside their house in the Sunset Heights subdivision just south of Woods Bay on the lower slopes of Crane Mountain.

Dave Storest thought it sounded like a crow. Then there was another scream.

“I said that sounds like a big cat,” Patty Storest said.

The couple looked outside and saw the mountain lion on some rocks about 20 yards from the house.

The day before, Patty had put some steak bones on the patio for her house cats, and the bones strangely disappeared. She said she believes the mountain lion was responsible, and that it was lingering near her home because of the house cats.

“They are very territorial,” she said. “To them, our house cats are like mountain lions in their territory.”

Thursday morning, the Storests were awakened by the mountain lion’s screams at about 6:30 a.m. The big cat made more noise that night.

The Storests contacted Erik Wenum, a mountain lion and bear management specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

“The game warden said we could kill it, so we are going to if we see it again,” Storest said.

Having the mountain lion hanging around the house is frightening, Storest said.

“We have two grandchildren,” she said. “Now we won’t let them outside when they are here.”

Wenum explained the state’s policy regarding brazen mountain lions.

“We have zero tolerance for lions that are trying to make a living in a backyard,” he said. “This one has been very visible. They’ve had the opportunity to take pictures of it in the daytime. As you can see, it’s fairly comfortable in a people activity area.”

Bears end up near homes attracted by bird feeders, pet foods, garbage and other foods.

“But when a lion takes up residency or starts working a neighborhood, they’re not interested in trash or bird feeders. But he is interested in pet foods; they’re more than happy to eat pets, particularly house cats,” Wenum said.

“Lions in general are notorious for infanticide and cannabilism. Lions are very territorial so they don’t tolerate interlopers. ... They really target house cats.”

Wenum said the lion’s sounds indicate that it is a young female in heat.

“Even house cats in heat are extremely vocal,” he said. “She’s advertising that she’s there and she’s in heat.”

If the Storests shoot the mountain lion, they will forfeit the animal to the state.

“They are going to have the opportunity to free shoot it much better than I am,” Wenum said, explaining that current conditions are not good for tracking the animal with hounds. And because lions are not scavengers, they are very difficult to bait into a trap.

In these cases, Wenum asks people to shoot safely and successfully.

“There’s nothing I get more tired of than chasing a wounded mountain lion around at 3 in the morning,” he said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.