Office Safety!

Rick Stein, of Boulder, shows photos of the mountain lion that came onto his back porch Monday. Stein was inside his home, on Folsom Street near Canyon Boulevard, when he saw the lion. My office is at 1820...right across the street!

Mountain lion spotted on Folsom; DOW has yet to trap and relocate the cougar

By Vanessa Miller (Contact)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

At his home on Folsom Street this week — just a short walk from popular shopping areas between Pearl Street and Canyon Boulevard — Rick Stein, 56, had a surprise guest.

A mountain lion was crouched on the back porch of his home, at 1833 Folsom St., peering in through a sliding glass door and leaning back on his haunches, ready to pounce, Stein said.

“I came up to the glass, and it snarled at me,” he said. “What a way to start the day.”

The lion encounter happened about 9:30 a.m. Monday just after Stein’s wife had let their dog, Buddy, into the backyard. When Stein saw the cougar on his porch, Buddy was just feet away. His dog and wife sprinted to the apartment complex’s laundry room, while Stein grabbed a camera and started snapping photos.

“I’ve seen almost everything, but I’ve never seen a lion on the patio,” he said. “This is deeper in town than I’ve ever seen a cat.”

Stein said he tried to scare the cougar away and called 911. Before officers could arrive, however, the lion took off into the wooded area that backs up to Stein’s home. Colorado Division of Wildlife officials later joined officers at the scene and found a raccoon carcass in the area that probably was left by the lion.

They used that carcass as bait for the cougar. But the trap — which they set overnight Monday and was tripped by Tuesday morning — failed to net the lion, officials said.

Stein said he wanted to notify the community of the lion sighting. But, he said, Division of Wildlife officials told him not to tell anyone until they finished trying to trap the animal.

“If you have a big cat roaming around this deep into town, it’s almost like a public service announcement,” he said.

Jennifer Churchill, a spokeswoman for the division, said officers try to keep people away from an area where a lion is running loose, and notifying the public isn’t always the best way to do that.

“Anytime we have wildlife in town and word gets out, we have people rushing to see if they can get a glimpse,” Churchill said.

Public attention also makes trapping a lion more difficult, Churchill said, especially in Boulder, where there is a “diverse” range of opinions on living with wildlife.

“People feel differently about relocating lions,” she said. “So we try not to do an advertisement if we’re going to relocate one.”

Churchill said even though people don’t hear or see lions much in the downtown area, “They absolutely come into town.

“There is so much wildlife in Boulder, so there’s a lot for lions to eat,” she said. “If you live in the Boulder area or anywhere in the foothills, you should be aware of lions coming and going.”

Cam's Mountain Lion picture (Frying Pan River, Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado):