LAKE DALLAS, Texas — Wednesday night, WFAA aired a video of a confirmed mountain lion sighting near Lake Lewisville in Frisco. Viewer Brady Smith saw it, and could not believe his eyes.
"How did that cat get across the lake!" Smith explained in an interview with WFAA Thursday night.
Brady owns Lake Dallas RV Park on the opposite side of the lake, nearly twenty miles from where the cat was caught on camera. Six days before the mountain lion was seen in Frisco, one of the guests at his park, Heith Mayes caught it on his camera too.
"I’m like there’s no way it crossed the lake that fast!" Smith said.
"I just knew it was a big cat," Mayes told WFAA. "I noticed it was bigger than a bobcat."
Mayes sent the video to Brady, who emailed it to us, and also to the Department of Parks and Wildlife when he saw our story. The department quickly sent urban wildlife biologist Rachel Richter to survey the scene.
"It is extremely rare," Richter said of the sighting. Since the 1990's when the state started tracking mountain lion sightings, she said, "This is the first confirmed sighting of a mountain lion in Denton County."
It’s not certain, Rachel said, but very likely that the mountain lion in Frisco is the same one seen in Lake Dallas. She said the department is monitoring its movement and behavior and suspects it won’t stay near the lake very long.
"They’re a large animal, so if they want to get somewhere else, they can get somewhere else."
The department asks you to report all mountain lion sightings to Richter at Rachel.Richter@tpwd.texas.gov. The department added the following instructions on what to do if you encounter a mountain lion:
• Pick up all children off the ground immediately.
• Do NOT approach the lion
• Stay calm. Talk calmly and move slowly.
• Face the lion and remain in an upright position.
• Do not turn your back on the lion. Back away slowly.
• Do NOT run.
• Do all you can to enlarge your image. Do NOT crouch down or try to hide
• If the lion is aggressive, throw rocks, sticks, or anything you can get your hands on.
• If the lion attacks, fight back. Fighting back can drive off lions.